Time and Again
by sandys18
Summary: AU- Thousand years ago Caroline and Niklaus were friends, she was his confidante. They did not know that time and circumstances were about to change their relationship and their perception of each other in the thousand years to come. (Klaus doesn't know about his werewolf side and they all are still human)
1. The Promise

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of these characters.

**A/N: **I was not going to start another story since I have another one in progress, but all these ideas keep annoying me, so I had to write this. Hope you guys like it.

**Time and Again**

**The Promise**

_Thousand Years Ago…_

It was a simpler time, where the only thing mattered was life and the only thing feared was death. Yet as the world turned it was inevitable that all, the rich and the poor, wise and not so wise, everyone, to change whether they wanted to or not. The grief-stricken Mikaelsons wondered into the new world wanting such change, hoping the sadness of their first born son's death will not follow them, hoping the plague that took their son or anything of the sort that would cause such pain would not ever follow them again.

They felt blessed to have found a land that gave them another chance at a life, a family, a one that helped bring up their six children without a day of sickness.

Yet as time went on they became wary of things happening around them. The world around them was changing faster than they could understand it. Unexplained disappearances, of men and women alike, either dead, killed, or vanished without a reason, was taking over their humble life at the village. The villagers blamed it on the tribe of men and women who they named 'werewolves', the ones that were believed to turn into wolves in moonlit nights.

The fables, forced Mikael the worried father to enforce strict rules upon his children. However, in spite of all the rules, what they never deemed to witness happen to their children, while they were alive happened once more, when Henrik their youngest disappeared without a trace. He blamed it on the so called 'werewolves' and mostly his wayward son 'Niklaus', who had disobeyed him and snuck out along with Henrik on a full moon night, he blamed him for it was Niklaus, who had led the little scavenge that ultimately led to his brother's death.

Even months after, Mikael disputed over his much loved son's death with Niklaus, driving his disappointed and mortified son to once more sneak out of their humble home in the dead of night.

"He cannot tell me what to do!" Niklaus with all his might threw the cobalt rock in to the little stream in front.

He picked up another and heaved it up high as if he was aiming to throw it at the sky, "He cannot…"

"Be careful Niklaus, you could hurt someone," he stopped at the sarcastic female voice, he heard behind him.

"Caroline! What are you doing here at this time of night?" He was not expecting to be found by anyone, certainly not by her, not at such a time, for the times were not the same and as safe as the old days where he and his friend could just freely play and walk until the sun came up, and his brother's death was proof of it.

"I saw you coming out here, and I followed you, I thought you may need someone to talk to," Caroline sat beside him on the large rock that once upon a time they had etched their names on.

He cast his eyes down, "You should not have come," He wanted her there, he needed her, but at the same time he did not want to be the cause of her death as well.

"I wanted to," She put her hand on his.

He loosened the grip on the rock and let it fall and let her grip his hand tightly.

"It is not safe here, not anymore," he turned to her, to her eyes that reflected the starry skies.

"You know that I fear nothing," She smiled gently trying to brighten the night.

"You have not seen what I have, Caroline," he felt his eyes begin to tear up, something he did not do often, something he had only allowed to be seeing by her, ever since he was young.

"I do not care, I only care that my friend is well" She yelled back as she was cross that he did not seem to want her there.

"You are always there for me Caroline, Thankyou… If not for you I would not have lived as long as I have…" His tears were threatening to fall down and Caroline as always knowing exactly what he needed pulled him into a tight embrace.

"Do not blame yourself, Nik," she cooed in to his ear, as his chin rested on her shoulder holding on to her little frame.

He immediately felt better, felt as though his worries had started to fade; the memories of the night that the vicious beasts attacked his brother began to become somewhat bearable.

He broke apart only to utter a thank you, yet the way her eyes gleamed back muddled him, made him believe he wanted to say more than a 'thank you'.

"What?" she had found his staring unusual.

"Nothing" he opted to ignore the strange pound he felt in his chest and laid down on his back on the cold rock.

She laid beside him resting her head on his one stretched out arm.

"Caroline?" he asked his eyes gazing at the dark clouds that was becoming slowly visible for the sun was mere hours away from coming up.

"Yes?" She turned to him, and moved few of the golden locks out of her face.

"I know I do not even need to ask this… Yet will you promise to always be there for me?" he turned to face her.

"Of course I will, I promise to always be there for you" She knew his battered soul merely wanted to confirm the truth that he already knew, to ascertain that he would never be alone in the cruel world.

"As would I… "His content grin, could light up the whole of the grey sky.

Caroline too gleefully examined his face which was once more gazing up above.

Time went on as they silently kept their eyes on the slow moving stars.

They both fell asleep upon the rock, with Caroline nuzzling very closely to him.

It was in the morning he began to open his eyes, feeling the absence of her warmth next to him.

"Caroline!" He feared the worst and shouted out to her.

"Caroline Archer, this is not funny… where are you?" He looked around hoping against hope she was just trying to trick him.

"Do you want to bring the whole village down here? Why are you shouting?" She was walking lethargically from out of the woods behind her, holding a hand full of apples and eating another with her other hand.

Only when seeing her ever careless-self walk towards him he felt like breathing.

"What is the matter with you?" She munched down on the apple like a chipmunk and sat on their rock. Then she placed the other apples right next to her.

"What kind of a girl are you?" he teased her while he freshened up with some water from the stream, watching the way she ate, from afar.

"The hungry kind" she shoved another apple into her mouth.

"It is no wonder your parents cannot get you married off to anyone" he badgered her and stole an apple and stepped back before she could stop him.

"You!" She threw an apple his way.

He jumped to his side and escaped it "You may be the granddaughter of an archer, but you sure have poor aim love" he laughed.

"You just wait there Niklaus Mikaelson!"She fumed even more and ran out after him, holding another poor apple trying to hit him.

He ran, and she did not falter, she kept up the pace.

He tripped on a meddlesome vine lying on the ground and by the time he was up, she was right next to him.

"Niklaus Mikaelson, I hope you are ready to beg for my mercy for what you said now, or you will be truly sorry!" She was holding on to his arm to prevent him from running off.

"All right then, I take back what I said, any man would be lucky to have you as a wife" he felt her hand release him slightly, "If he was blind" he added with a laugh only to get the taste of the apple that was in her hand right in the middle of his forehead and to fall down like a log.

While he laid there with his eyes shut, he heard her calling him worried, "Niklaus? Are you hurt?"

He could feel her shadow hovering close.

He opened up one eye to make sure she was not standing there with another apple aimed at his face.

In fact she looked devastated, he found her looking down on him as if she had just slaughtered him.

He opened his other eye, "I must say, Caroline Archer, the daughter of Aldwin Archer, your aim is quite excellent"

She held out her hand for him to get onto his feet, "I am so relieved that you are fine"

She sighed, and it seemed all was forgiven, for she was worryingly caressing the little bump he felt grow on his forehead with much caution.

"I am fine Caroline, you need not worry" he reassured her for he did not like that expression on her.

"Nik! Caroline! I knew I would find the two of you out here! Everyone is looking for you Caroline…" Another blonde headed young girl approached the two of them with an annoyed expression, most probably since she had to walk all the way up to the stream to find the two of them.

"We merely came for a walk, not that long ago" he said while passing a nifty smile at Caroline, who sheepishly looked at the girl that was heading their way.

"Oh do not bother trying to fool me my dear brother, I know you did not return after you left our hut last night and when they said Caroline had gone missing, I knew where the two of you were" the girl shook her head frowningly at her brother and his friend.

"Rebekah, do not stare at us as if we had done something wrong, you very well know…" Caroline began to defend herself wanting to shatter whatever suspicions that had driven Niklaus's sister to make such a face.

"Oh do not fret yourself Caroline, I was merely mocking you two" Bekah laughed and her brother laughed along, but Caroline did not see the humor in it all.

"Are you alright brother? Last night… I do not believe the way father talked to you was right… I cannot understand why he is always so disapproving of you" the worried sister came closer and inspected her brother's face to see how he had been coping, "Is that your doing Caroline?" Rebekah pointed at the bump on her brother's head.

Caroline guiltily looked at the emerging red lump on her friend's forehead.

"Who else would do such a thing to me?" He was glad it was there for it helped him escape the question she asked regarding last night.

"That is true, who else would dare hit my brother on the head" Bekah agreed rolling her eyes at her older brother and at the girl who may have been a year or so younger than herself.

"You better come with me Caroline before the whole village suspect you of things that you did not do," Bekah dragged Caroline and began to walk back to the village, for as they all knew the villagers will not be so understanding of the fact the daughter of Aldwin Archer soon to betrothed hopefully to someone, would go on nightly walks with a young man unaccompanied by an adult.

"I heard some good news Niklaus, and I forgot to tell you!" Caroline bellowed turning around to see Niklaus who was now yards away from her.

"What is it Caroline? Did some blind man agree to marry you after all?" he snickered resting his hands on his hips looking at the livid blonde go red.

"No! Do you want to know it or not? It is about Tatia!" She had to scream louder for Bekah was pulling on her arm and was starting to walk faster.

"Tatia? What about Tatia?" his face changed from the playful Niklaus to some other creature.

"She is coming back tomorrow!" she drew his arm away from Bekah, turned around and stared to study his elated face, yet only for a second for Bekah was dragging her away again.

Once Caroline returned, as expected she got an earful from her parents and she had not managed to fool them for when they saw Niklaus arrive merely few minutes afterwards they put the clues together and understood where their daughter had been last night. Though they trusted her and Niklaus, they feared it may affect her chances of being married to a good family, thus she was kept almost imprisoned in her own home for the whole of the day as a punishment.

Though Niklaus went to talk to her father and explain what had happened, or rather had not happened, he did not take any of it.

Niklaus wanted to find her, talk to her, ask her what he should say to Tatia, but she was not let out the whole day and he felt utterly hopeless without her.

The next day, everyone was busy getting ready for the feast that they held, seven days after every moon night. It was a ritual that was said to have begun after his mother 'Esther' came to the village, something they had started to feel better about their lives. After the supposed werewolf attacks and disappearances it had become a much welcomed event in the village, which allowed the village folks to escape reality even if it was for one night.

When the night came, the busy villagers were beginning to calm down and enjoy the feast that they all had prepared.

The small village was gathered around a massive fire that was set in the middle of it. The only thing that made them be reminded of the ominous world that lay beyond their village was the few men who were standing guard. Though it was not a full moon, they did not trust the other tribe enough to simply enjoy the feast without having taken any precautions.

Flutes were played, and the young girls of the village danced eyeing every breathing young man that walked, and the Mikaelson brothers were the topic on the lips of most of them.

They were sitting by the fire, Finn the oldest in the corner, Elijah next, and Niklaus in the middle of Bekah and his younger brother Kol.

Niklaus was constantly on the lookout for Tatia, for he did not have the time to meet her as she had arrived back to the village only a few moments ago and his mother was adamant that he attended the feast with the rest of the family.

Their mother was busy serving food and their father had decided to sit farther away from his children, perhaps as he could not stand the sight of his third son.

"It is good that we kept our tradition, it makes everyone forget everything that is bad about the world" Aldwin Archer had sat next to Mikael, and Niklaus was keenly listening in on the conversation as everything else happening around him was boring him to death.

"Yes, it seems so" his father was never someone to talk more than a few words except when he was trying to taunt him, torture him or when he was angry.

Niklaus saw Caroline's father turn to his side as if he had spotted him eavesdropping and Niklaus quickly evaded him by looking at the dancing light of the fire, his ears still well aware of what was being said.

"If it were not for your son being in love with Tatia Petrova, We may have been able to see your son and my daughter dance like that" Though he did not see where Aldwin Archer pointed at when he said 'Like that', Niklaus was more than certain he was talking about the newly married couple who he saw dance behind the fire.

"It is of no use Aldwin, I cannot talk any sense in to that child, and I do not wish to anymore" he heard his father talk of him in the same disappointed tone as he usually does, and it seemed Bekah had over heard him as well, for she patted his arm gently.

Niklaus nodded at her with fake smile to prove to her he was well.

"Why do you talk about him as if you have given up on him, he is your son Mikael, he is young and curious and so was Henrik, I know Niklaus is not as bad as you think him to be" hearing Aldwin speak in a way he could not imagine his father ever even think about him, it became obvious to Niklaus from where Caroline had gotten her good traits.

"Do not put your nose in matters that you should not Aldwin, it is not your place to tell me how to raise my children," From the corner of Niklaus's eye he saw his father get up ready to leave.

"I am not telling you how to raise your children, I was merely implying that though he may think he may be in love with Tatia, I know he care very much for my daughter Caroline and I know he is a good match for her, and now that there is a rumor that Tatia had come bearing a child out of wedlock.. I was…" Niklaus had stood up spontaneously as he heard the last words and so did his brother Elijah, who was known to have a soft spot for Tatia though he had never spoken of it.

"For your own sake and your daughter's… be glad he is in love with a woman like her, that is what he deserves." His father though was talking to Aldwin Archer was staring at Niklaus all the while.

"Mikael, this is not the place for this! Aldwin I am sorry" If it was not for his mother who had come at that moment and taken her husband, and Bekah who held him back with his arm, he was not sure what he may have said to his father.

While Aldwin accepted the apology like the good man he was, and went onto join another group of men, Elijah quietly disappeared into the shadows behind them.

"Nik, do not do or say anything and worsen the matter, let the other's enjoy their night" Bekah made him sit back down.

Niklaus sat clasping his hands together, gazing at the raging fire. His siblings beside him were watching him closely to make sure he did not act upon any foolish thoughts he may have in his head.

Amidst the blistering waves of fire, he saw Caroline walk out of a dark corner of the village. He felt his face relax and begin to go astray from the tunnel vision he had been seeing the world through thus far.

There was something different about the way she walked, her smile, he could not pinpoint it, and he did not have the time to pinpoint it for he badly wanted to talk to her.

"Caroline!" he got up instinctively, and not so surprisingly Bekah did not stop him from running to her and nor did his brothers.

"Niklaus? What is it?" her grin faded as Niklaus took her under a massive tree that stood in a corner not bothered by any of the villagers.

"Is it true?" He asked as she found a small stone ledge under the tree to sit down.

"What?" she had not seen him this disarrayed since last morning, when she returned to the stream, with a half a dozen of apples in her hands.

"Tatia! is she bearing a child out of wedlock?" he spurred in high speed.

"Who told you this? Where did you hear this?" She found herself feeling similarly dismayed.

"So you do not know? I heard your father say to my father, that there is a rumor… I think it may be true… I think that is why she did not come out to the feast…" He sat next to her looking down in disbelief.

"May be it is not true… if rumors are true I was with you last night by the stream, and my father kept me locked up because of that" Half way into her speech she realized she had failed to make the point she was trying.

"It is true, you were with me last night by the stream… I think you lost your way a little bit there" He could not help but let out a small chuckle at his friend, among everything.

"It at least made you laugh did it not?" She pointed out hitting him hard on the side of his arm.

"Yes, it did" he for a second marveled at her ability to either knowingly or unknowingly made him feel better, make him smile.

"Are you going to go and talk to her?" her tone was more serious this time.

"Do you think it is Elijah?" it had been bothering him, he knew for a fact Elijah in his own way was trying court Tatia.

"Are you in your right mind? Do you even know how children are made? Elijah cannot even look her in the eye. He does not even look me in the eye some days and he is not even in love with me!" She scoffed, disbelieving sternly that his older brother was capable of anything like that. "Anyway…" she continued, caught deep in her thoughts "I do not believe, Elijah would be that kind of man … he is a good man"

"But, maybe he is," He wondered gazing at her confusedly blinking eyes.

"I told you he cannot be the father," she stuttered out her answer and moved her head back as if she was afraid the way he was looking at her.

"No I mean may be he is in love with you... seeing that our taste do not seem to differ that much, It could be why he cannot look at you straight in the eye" he did not know what he meant by it but he acted though he did and smiled.

"What do you mean?" She stood up as if she understood something more than he did.

"I mean… we prefer… we prefer to be in the presence of same kind of women" he managed to make sense out of what he said earlier.

"Oh… But I am sure he is not…" it was Caroline this time that pretended to understand him, as she sat again on the spot next to him dully with a furrowed forehead.

"So you think I should talk to her?" he wanted to get her back from the daze she had gone into for he feared what he had said could catapult something disastrous that would result in him ultimately losing the one good friend, the only one he had.

"Yes, how else can we put the rumors to rest? I will come with you if you want me to" she was back to her normal advice giving self.

"It would be good, if you came but…"he took a second to think, not wanting to be careless and say something as before.

"What is it?" she was troubled by his stillness.

"No, you should come" he was not certain as to why but he always feared seeing Tatia and Caroline in the same vicinity, he feared it would somehow put him to some sort of a test that he would come out a failure.

"So then it is decided, we will talk to her, tomorrow at sun rise… Now let us go and enjoy the feast… May be dance a tad bit," She rose to her feet and lent her hand asking him to come with her.

"I do not wish to… I do not feel like dancing or eating" He refused to stand up.

"Oh stop worrying so much… Just remember I will be there for you no matter what" she tugged his arm and he slowly got up.

"Finally," She sighed and took him to where the crowd had sat down to eat.

Many tables were arranged and each of them had dishes that surely tasted as good as they looked and smelt. The other Mikaelson siblings were already sitting down and were getting ready to eat when Caroline and Niklaus got to the table.

"Caroline! Niklaus! Over here!" Bekah had been keeping a spot for them on the bench.

They both went around the table and sat on their reserved spot. Caroline sat between Niklaus and Bekah, While Finn, Elijah and Kol had sat on the opposite side of them.

As soon as they came to the table the other young men and women started to whisper, about what neither the Mikaelsons nor Caroline cared, but they knew it was about them.

The dinner was delightful as expected.

As the others enjoyed the sight of the young men and women dancing in front of the fire, as Finn kept eyeing sage across the table, Niklaus noticed that may be as a result of what he had said earlier, Caroline was looking quizzically at Elijah a few times.

"Do you want me to ask him?" he whispered so that his nosy younger sister or the gossiping girls could not hear him.

"What?" She was clueless for a second, "No… He does not… and I do not want to know and I do not care… are you trying to throw me at Elijah so that you can have Tatia by yourself?" She mumbled in to his ear.

"Elijah? Do you think Elijah can compete against my charms?" he whispered back.

"Well did you not believe he may be the father of certain someone's child?" she smiled but he could hear her gritting teeth. "And to tell you the truth he is a very kind hearted man, a thoughtful man… unlike you, who is always angry and bitter, any woman would love to have him as a husband"

It may have been said to poke fun at him, and may not have been to hurt him, but it did just that, somehow the effect of her words he felt far severe than his father's callous ones.

"I did not mean it" she was too late, he was already shattered.

"I know you did not mean it" he seeing his troubled face forced a smile.

"What are you two whispering about?" Rebekah was being the ever so inquisitive sister once more.

"Nothing" both uttered in unison, mirroring the same guilty looks on each other's faces.

"Of course" Rebekah curved her eyes at them.

Kol interrupted the conversation. "Niklaus, if you are not going to ask Caroline to dance with you, may I?"

"You may" Niklaus looked at his brother with a slight apprehension, for he did not trust Kol to do anything without an ulterior motive.

"Why in the world would you need his permission? Let us dance…" Caroline stood up and went off to join the dance with Kol.

Niklaus and the other Mikaelson watched as the two of them twirled and moved to the music.

"You know she is right, you always act like she belongs to you, but she does not… "Rebekah's annoying voice caught his ear.

"Yes she does not belong to me, not to anyone else either" he uttered seeking out Caroline and his brother who he thought he had lost among the other dancers.

"Well not yet… from the looks all the men around here are giving her… I would not think it would take her that long to find herself a husband" his sister was trying to learn his expression.

"Good for her…" he found those words were harder to put out than he thought.

"So you mean to say, when she is married off and does not have any time for you, since she is busy tending to her husband and her own family, you will be simply fine with that?" Elijah out of the blue had joined their private conversation, and Niklaus could not find anything that was more irritating.

"No!" It felt the hardest words in the world to say "Caroline can spend her whole life with her family, without ever coming to even see me, I do not care, I only care for her happiness" he did care for her happiness, but when he said it all out loud a life without her seemed nearly impossible.

"So you would not care if Kol or Finn or even I were to peruse her" Elijah had suddenly become too talkative.

"No! I do not" Niklaus looked up at him with scrutinizing eyes suspecting what he said so aimlessly to Caroline may actually turn out to be true. "So am I to believe you have given up on Tatia because of the rumors? Or because you know you are no match for me? Or are you thinking of using my friendship with Caroline to somehow make me give up on Tatia?" he wanted to know his motivations.

"Do you really believe I am capable of any of those things? Do you believe I would ever use Caroline?" Elijah had had enough partaking in the conversation. "And Niklaus, One should never give up on love, or those who they love" he added before he walked towards where their parents were.

"Elijah!" Finn ran after him, not before passing a rage filled look at Niklaus.

"Are they done for the night?" Caroline had returned to the table with Kol.

She jumped to her earlier spot and they both were gasping for air in harmony.

"If only you were a good a cook as you are a dancer I would have made you my wife" Kol playfully took the goblet of wine and poured it down his throat.

Rebekah laughed and Niklaus was far from laughing.

"What kind of a compliment was that? Or was it a compliment at all?" Caroline grabbed the goblet out of Kol's hand and started to drink.

He sat amazed; he had not seen her as so, well not with anyone else but him, she as may as well be drunk he figured.

"Anyway, who told you I cannot cook, I have you know that I am brilliant cook" she wiped her mouth before slamming the goblet on the table.

"Nik, did you call Caroline a bad cook?" Rebekah had noticed his guilty face.

"Did you?" Caroline took one of the forks and poked the blunt end of it on Niklaus's neck as if to threaten the truth out of him.

"I think I may have said something of the sort" he was optimistically looking to Kol to help him.

"Yes, it is him who said you were a bad cook" Kol was no help as usual.

"Why would you say that?" she grunted and turned the fork around and pointed the sharp end to him.

"He… he was asking me… one day… why we are not together… as… you know … everyone seemed to be so curious of that these days… anyway… I knew… I could not make him understand our deep… friendship… and I could not find a reason good enough other than you being not a good cook to make him stop annoying me… " he told the truth, remembering what Caroline is capable of, remembering the bump he had on his forehead yesterday.

She paused for a second as if to read the hidden words that did not come out of his mouth, before she reacted to the ones that he did say,"So… you disgraced me and my cooking because you wanted your younger brother to stop annoying you?" She shouted and a small sneer came out, giving away the fact that she was merely pretending to be angry.

Niklaus felt pleased that all was said in good humor, for his two younger siblings too were joining in with smiles.

Then Caroline pointed the fork at Kol "And you, you will not marry me only because I am not a good cook? Do you think all we women are born to do is just to serve food to you men?"

"No, I do not think that women are only needed to serve us food… women are needed to bear our children as well" Kol grinned very well aware that the comment will not go all that well with Caroline nor his sister, and that was his intention.

"A day will come, you would realize how strong we are than you" Rebekah, threw the napkin to Kol's face. He grabbed it and grinned.

"I did not think that you would be as dimwitted as your brother here" Caroline turned to Niklaus.

"When have I ever said anything of the sort to you? Do not put me in the same class as …" Niklaus's voice died down as he saw his father approach them with Elijah.

"Let us take this conversation somewhere else" he got up pulling Caroline by her hand.

"Caroline, I hear that your father is searching for you, and he did not sound very happy that you have not still returned home" his father Niklaus wondered, as to why was he always out to get him, why he had to be the one to tell Caroline she had to head home, why it seemed that he was happy that Caroline took her hand away from him.

"I have to go… I will meet you tomorrow as we planned, to meet you know who" She muttered softly into his ear and took a few steps to leave.

"I will walk you" he went after her.

"No! Elijah will take her" His father commanded.

"But Father!"Rebekah protested and not even she, his favorite was able to change his mind, for he merely put his hand up to stop her from saying anything further.

And Kol never tried to waste his time trying to go against his father for the small things, he always said they need to wait for the right time, but it seemed the right time never came for him.

Caroline looked back dejected for she understood as well as Niklaus, what Mikael's true intentions were, which was to see Niklaus hurt and alone.

He watched her walk away with Elijah, turning and glancing at him, wanting to make sure he was well.

It hurt him to see her so concernedly watch him, it hurt him even more to see Elijah walk her home, and it angered him more to see his father's spiteful face.

The knowledge that Caroline promised to meet him tomorrow, the knowledge that all could be settled with Tatia tomorrow he felt were to be his only sources of salvation from his damned life.


	2. The Secret

**A/N:** Thanks for everyone who read, reviewed, Favorited this story and my other stories.. Hope you like this one as well.

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**The Secret**

The silvery stream of water flowed hurriedly between the rocks, colliding endlessly against them. Its speed Niklaus felt matched the speed in which his heart was beating, as he paced in its rocky banks waiting for her. The sun may not have been up for that long, nor he may have been waiting for a long while, yet to him it felt as if he had been there pacing for an eternity.

"Niklaus!" Caroline's scream echoed within the mountains that walled their village.

He saw her come running to him merrily. "Caroline, where is she? I thought you had gone to bring her here…" he felt crushed, for he was more than disappointed to see Caroline come alone without Tatia.

"I did" She jumped from rock to rock, to reach where he stood.

"Then, where is she? I do not see her, is she not coming?" he could sense his face crumple with worry.

"She is! I came running to let you know"Caroline was standing upon a considerably large rock, planning to jump down to where he was.

"What did she say when you asked her to come? When you told her I wanted to meet her?" he was getting ready to catch Caroline.

"She said she too was planning to come see you" She jumped and landed unsteadily, hurtling into his chest.

He caught her without letting her fall, trapping her in his arms.

To him it felt a strange position, natural yet strange. "Are you alright Caroline?"

"Yes" her face which was momentarily buried in his chest looked up at him.

To hold her as so, with her face so closely to him, to feel her pant so clearly against him as she caught her breath, definitely felt bizarrely innate.

"Niklaus!" Tatia was calling from probably not more than few yards away.

Caroline at once moved back from him at the voice as though she had done something terribly wrong, and soon after his nervous hands came off of her. Nevertheless their eyes did not leave each other, not until they heard Tatia holler his name once more.

"Nik, you should go to her" She turned her back to him.

He watched her golden hair flutter in the wind for a moment; perplexed, struggling to guess why her voice seemed so broken.

"Niklaus!" Tatia was now standing a step or so behind.

Niklaus's eyes strayed at Tatia, but within a moment they were back on Caroline.

"Is something the matter?" she approached the two friends guardedly.

"No, we were just waiting for you" Caroline had her smile on as she turned and answered Tatia.

"Ye..Yes.. We were" he stammered nervously as he went to Tatia's side.

"I shall wait for you here then" Caroline's eyes were conveniently hidden by her stubborn hair that ran across her face.

He lingered watching Caroline's expression for a moment trying to discern what he had thought he felt.

"You can go Niklaus, It is alright" Caroline nodded lightly, her blue eyes peering at him through her wayward locks.

"Eh.. Alright then…" He decided somewhat hesitantly and led Tatia towards the left of the bank.

As he strolled away with Tatia, he looked back feeling as though someone or something was trying to pull him, and turn him from behind, but he found no one, nothing, except for his sweet friend Caroline, who had sat on top of a rock bit far off from them, playing with the gushing water with her feet.

"Niklaus, you have something to ask of me? Caroline said…" Tatia took his attention.

"Y…Yes I do have something of importance to ask of you" he watched her dark eyes stare at the horizon.

"Oh?" her steps got slower.

"Come we shall sit there and talk" he pointed at 'their' rock, his and Caroline's.

She agreed her head still not looking up to meet his.

When they reached the perfectly shaped large granite stone, and as Tatia sat gently upon it he felt something amiss, he felt a traitor for some reason, and before his eyes began to focus on the blurry figure of Caroline, he heard Tatia utter something, "Did I intrude up on something Niklaus?"

"No… "His heart punched him on his chest.

"Very well then… '' her gentle smile that rose from the edge of her lips almost made it look as though she did not believe him.

He too sat keeping somewhat of a distance. "How have you been? I did not see you at the feast..." he mumbled, looking at the dark haired woman beside him.

"So am I to believe that this is what you called me out here to ask?" a tense laughter escaped from her.

"Tatia, rumors have been going around in the village, that… " he stopped, he could not look at her, for he feared her answer.

She stared right at him, "It is true" she did not wait for him to ask.

"How could that be?" his closed right hand thumped powerfully on the hard rock.

"Do you not remember the son of my father's sister, who had come to visit, not more than three moons back?" She looked down and tears dropped onto her lap.

"Is he the father? Why did you not tell me this before?" the anger he felt made him want to scream out loudly, bash everything in front of him, however he had been warned by Caroline that no matter what her answer was he should be calm, and understanding thus he tried to breath in his ire.

"He forced himself upon me Niklaus! You need to believe me..." her hands tugged at his tunic, her eyes trying to catch his fallen ones.

"Do not lie to me!" he pushed her hands off and stood up.

"I am not… The reason that we went away was to talk to his family, tell them of my state" she begged, her eyes pleaded him to believe her.

"So you are not lying to me?" he roared, glaring at her.

"No.. I am not" she hid her face in her palms, yet her quiet cries still could be heard.

He believed her tears could not possibly lie to him as so, it felt genuine and true.

"I will take you as my wife you need not worry, I will take it upon myself to make sure that no one talk anything bad of you" he cared for her, as far as he knew he loved her, he simply could not turn his back on her when something so terrible had happened to her. However irate he was or however impossible it was to dismiss the feeling of betrayal, he did not want to see her cry or suffocate as she had seemingly done no wrong, simply because some worthless simpleton had taken advantage of her.

"I am very grateful to have someone as accepting as you to love me, yet… I cannot let you do that… it is not right… you deserve something more…. Someone better" she wiped her damped cheeks.

"No... It is you that I want" it may have been the fact that in hearts of hearts he was still not completely recovered from her truth, for his words he thought did not flow so sincerely out of him.

"It is too late Niklaus… I am already betrothed to him. My father forced him to make amends to what he had done to me. I am already betrothed..." she whimpered, her hands once again covering her dejected cries.

"It cannot be… you do not have to… Tatia… I will" he could not continue, he felt hopeless as he sat back trying to move her hands to see her face.

"No… "she revealed her face to him, her brown eyes shaded in a glace of red, "It is already arranged, I am to be his wife soon…" her soft hand gently touched his face, "You will find someone, who loves you more than me, Someone maybe you too would care for more deeply than me... "

"Then I may have to live an eternity before I find someone as so..." he did not want to believe that, it was merely couple of nights ago that he was dreaming so happily of her, it was merely last night he believed that all the rumours would turn out to be simply rumours, but now he could not believe if any of it was truly happening.

She smiled between her cries, looking at the carved names of the two bosom friends that her other hand had landed up on, "Do not lose hope, Niklaus…" she turned back to him with a caring smile.

'_Hope?' _he snickered inwardly at the irony_; _it was all he had before he met her and learned the truth.

She smeared off her tears and stood up to flee, "I must go now... It is already too late"

"But.." he reached for her hand for he was not done, for that could not possibly be the end of it all.

She did not let her hand get caught, "Caroline!" she looked at the sight of the blonde who was idly sitting, causing Niklaus as well to cast his eyes at the same direction.

"Caroline! I am heading back home, I hope to meet you some time tonight" Tatia yelled out.

"Very well… I will meet you tonight then "waving her hand Caroline hollered back,

"Niklaus… "Tatia said softly, she waited for some kind of a reply.

He was still as he did not know what to say, to stop her or let her go. He kept on thinking, looking at the gritty ground.

"Niklaus?" a hand was resting on his shoulder.

He looked up and Tatia had already left, and it was Caroline who was standing beside him.

She did not ask him a thing. She simply sat next to him, put her arms around his waist and rested her head against the nape of his neck.

His arm naturally went around her shoulder, his eyes staring at the oblivion up front.

"Everything will be alright… "she murmured closing her eyes.

At the sound of her soothing voice, he had slowly but surely begun to have 'hope' again, yet having only hope and nothing else was not easy to endure he thought. He let out a deep sigh and he felt her tighten her hold on him.

They parted ways only when the sun had decided to coarsely shine straight above their heads, when it reminded them that they could not stay there forever, though however much they wanted to.

All his siblings except for Finn were home and they were setting up the table for lunch when he arrived, and his parents thankfully were not anywhere to be seen.

"Where's Finn?" Niklaus asked walking in.

"With Sage I suppose" Kol kept the bowl of potatoes on the table and sat himself down, next to Elijah.

"And mother and father?" Niklaus sat at his usual place on the table, the one that was the furthest from where his father typically sat.

"They went to meet Aldwin Archer and his wife" Kol blurted, trying to steal a piece of lamb out of the bowl getting a harsh pat on the hand by his sister, for not waiting till she sat down.

"Why would they go there?" Niklaus looked back and forth between his younger brother and sister, for he did not see a reason for his parents to be visiting Caroline's father.

"We do not know" Rebekah, came to the spot beside him.

"Do not lie Bekah, we all heard them… they wanted to talk to them about Caroline and Elijah" Kol served himself some lamb onto his plate.

"Kol!" Elijah, glared menacingly at his unconcerned brother.

"What about them?" he knew what it meant but he did not want to understand it.

"Since, Kol so bluntly put it out, I think it is fare that you too are aware of it" Elijah explained and drank some water from his chalice, his eyes mildly alluding Rebekah to explain further.

"Aware of what?" Niklaus screamed looking her way.

"To talk about their marriage…" she uttered slowly, the words were barely audible.

"What? Why?" the plate in front of him flew off as his fist had stomped angrily on it.

"Calm down brother, it is not as if you were ever planning to marry her," Kol was carelessly eating his dinner, "It must have been some walk Elijah, for you to tell our parents that you wish to marry her the very next morning… yet I do understand it... she is quite remarkable, If you had not… I may have asked for her hand myself"

"Kol!" Rebkah got up and before anyone could stop it, Niklaus was strangling Kol.

"Niklaus, Stop! What are you trying to do?" Elijah was trying to get him off of their youngest brother who in the middle of being strangled was still trying to keep up his arrogant smile.

"What was I thinking I should be strangling you!" he released Kol and hit his brother on the face. Elijah fell on to the table behind, and the food splattered everywhere.

"Niklaus stop it! Kol do something" Rebekah was begging, but Kol was still on the floor, recovering from his earlier encounter with his brother.

Niklaus was moving closer to Elijah, his eyes filled with fury.

"I see nothing wrong with me wanting to be married to Caroline, you said it yourself Niklaus, you merely want to see her happy, I think I can keep her happy" Elijah was straightening himself, getting ready to defend himself if needed.

"Oh stop lying Elijah… you and I both know the only reason you want to marry Caroline is because Tatia is with child" Niklaus kicked a small stool that stood between Elijah and him.

Elijah caught the little piece of furniture before it smashed against his legs "How are you to know that I have not been planning on asking her even before I heard the news about Tatia?"

"Were you? He could feel every muscle in his body stiffen.

"I may have" Elijah almost was whispering to himself.

"No, you are simply trying to hurt me just as our father, she is the only good thing I have in my life and I cannot let you have her!" he pounced at his brother, however genuine Elijah's answer he felt it was, he just could not let it be.

Elijah was quick to react this time around, for before Niklaus could hurt him, he had kicked him on the stomach making him fly off and bang his back against the door.

"Elijah! stop this at once, what have come over you!" Rebekah attempted to grab on to her normally very subdued brother.

"You must really care for her, Elijah, I have not ever seen you like this" Kol snickered still lying on the floor.

"Kol stop making matters worse, and come and help me!" Rebekah's jaws clenched.

Unwillingly Kol went to Niklaus and held onto his arm while he stood back up.

"Did you not tell us that she did not belong to you, and you would not mind her being married and happy with someone else? Why would you say it if you did not mean it?" Elijah managed to walk towards Niklaus, for Rebekah was not strong enough to hold him back.

Niklaus tossed Kol's hand away from his arm, "I did mean it… But I do not want it to be you, someone who is seemingly in love with one woman one day another one the next"

"If I did not know any better, I would think that you are the one who cannot make up your mind, Not me Niklaus" Elijah's words only managed to provoke Niklaus to jump towards him again.

He was too strong this time, Elijah could not push him off; he could not be stopped. He wrestled Elijah to the cold floor and in spite of his other siblings' best efforts to stop him Niklaus began to punch his older brother endlessly on the face.

He felt his rage changing the way he saw things, his vision was altering.

"What.. what is wrong with your eyes… the color.. ?" Elijah was heard mumbling fretfully; in the one moment he managed to hold Niklaus back.

"What do you think you are doing boy?" his father had caught Niklaus from the back of his tunic.

Niklaus tensed up at the sound of him and his presence, and his father was able to pull him out of Elijah.

"How dare you do this to me? And you mother…" Niklaus spat at his parents faces.

"Do not talk to me or you mother like that! Know your place Klaus!" Mikael slapped Niklaus across his face.

"Mikael!" his mother came to his aid, but he dare not look at her.

The pain he felt as his father's hand assault him was harder to endure than the pain he would have felt if Elijah kicked him on his gut for hundreds of times.

Ignoring his sister's cries, he left the house feeling ashamed and as he darted off, he could see his brother Finn coming back home, from the grin on his usually somber face it was evident that he had come after meeting Sage.

"Where are you off to, Niklaus?" Finn asked in high spirits.

"Move out of the way brother," Niklaus shoved Finn to the side and dashed off, into the woods.

Any other day he would have gone to meet Caroline, hoping she would be able to free him of his misery, but he could not go to her with his new dilemma, for one it involved her, the other he was not quite so sure whether he had the right to oppose Elijah marrying her in the first place. He could not find the means of which he could explain himself to Caroline, thus he did not go to her.

In fact he avoided her for the next few days. Whenever he would see her come his way, he would change paths, whenever she would come running after him, calling him he would pretend to neither see her or hear her and whenever she came looking for him to his home, he would hide, stay out of her eye sight until she gave up and went back home.

It was for the best he figured. Whether it was Elijah or any other man would one day be lucky enough to be her husband, and thereafter he may not be able to depend on his dear friend as before, thus he spent his days alone thinking he needed to learn to live without her, though it was not even remotely easy in any sense of the word.

One morning, as Niklaus walked in to the forest hoping to escape his father's belittling words, Caroline had followed him. "Niklaus! Wait for me!"

That morning, however faster he walked she seemed determined to catch him, for he could not shed her off his trail.

"Niklaus, Why are you avoiding me? What have I done to you to be treated like this? Talk to me" She kept trying to convince him to stop, but he was resolute on evading her.

"You have done nothing wrong Caroline… leave me be and go back home" he sped up, for he could hear her steps getting closer, for he could hear the hitch in her voice.

"Nik! Why are you doing this?" she had stopped following him.

He walked a few feet, before he noticed her sobbing and halted at once, as his heart he felt was being yanked from behind. He turned around and she was running back. "Caroline, wait! I am sorry" he ran after her. She was fast, but he managed to catch her, "Caroline I am sorry, you did nothing wrong, you did not deserve to be treated as so… I am sorry" He turned her around by her hand.

"Why? Why were you not talking to me Niklaus, it has been days since the last time you looked at me, or talked to me" her angry clenched fists, powerfully struck him a few times on his chest.

He clinched her hands, and she at once stopped attacking his chest and rested her head on it. Still he could feel her tears fall and dampen his cloths. "It was not your fault Caroline… I was… It was Elijah…" it came out of him unknowingly.

"Elijah?" she pulled away and looked at him bemused.

"Yes... he… My father… had.. Elijah wants to… make you his wife" his teeth gritted, and he was not surprised to see her as staggered as she was.

"That night… Elijah was very much interested on knowing how I felt about you…" her teary eyes glanced at him for a moment and shied away the next.

"And what did you say to him?" he knew what she must have said, but he was interested to know her answer anyway.

"What else could have I said other than that we are merely friends?" she frowned.

"But…" He was out of words, they were 'friends', but not the kind that could easily be summed up by one sheer word, and he wished that she had not put it so simply as that to Elijah.

"But what?" her forehead crumpled, and her eyes narrowed, searching for an explanation on his face.

"but.. You should not… you cannot" words failed him again.

"I cannot what?" She stepped back and stood with her hands on her hips demanding a straight forward answer.

"You cannot marry him!" he knew there was no sound reason he could give for his answer, but there it was.

"Why should I not? Am I not good enough for your brother?" her face was red and fuming, her feet seemed ready for a fight.

"No… of course that is not it…" He looked down as if trying to find the answer hidden beneath the leafy ground.

"What is it then?" She took a step forward, staring as if trying to read his mind.

"Because… I.." he paused, looked up at her gazing blue eyes, "Because I do not want you to!" He screamed at her unable to rationalize his reasons.

She jerked back surprised by his sudden outbreak, "But why?" her frightened voice asked.

"Because… I…" he stepped closer to her, her eyes wandered in to her deep blue ones. "Because… I…" he started and stopped again as his eyes unknowingly had roamed towards her parted lips.

"No! please! Let me go…" A woman's scream from somewhere within the woods, caught their ears, and they both turned to the voice, breaking the spell that had kept them bound for moment.

Caroline took a couple of strides to the sound, "What was that?"

"No! let me go!' the woman shrieked again.

"Tatia! It is Tatia" He ran following the cries.

Caroline chased after him.

The screams were getting closer as they entered into the darker and forgotten parts of the woods. They could see in a distance Tatia struggling with a sturdy man.

"You there!"Niklaus shouted as he his eyes caught the distressing scene and ran at him.

"Niklaus!" Tatia cried seeing her former lover come to her rescue.

"Be gone little boy… this does not concern you… this is between me and the woman that is to be my wife" The man threw Tatia aside and pulled out a knife as he waited for Niklaus to get to him.

"Nilk, he has got a knife!" Caroline who had fallen somewhat behind than Niklaus, warned him as she stopped and gasped for air, holding onto her knees.

He had not cared about the knife; in a moment not too soon he had tumbled the man to the ground and had started attacking him. The not so puny man was able to somehow stand up, throw some kicks on his own at Niklaus, with his knife still in his hand time to time taking a swing at the younger one.

"Stop this... Niklaus you could get hurt!" Tatia was crying, holding her head.

Caroline, waited looking for a moment that she could pull them out of the fight, but it never seem to come.

One more swing, and the man had managed to slice Niklaus somewhere around the midriff. Blood whisked all over his cloths and he stepped back holding his stomach with one hand.

"Niklaus!" yelped both the women in one tone, and Caroline without a second thought had jumped at the other man's back, angry and seemingly hoping she would be able to either stop the fight or reprimand the man somehow to what she had just seen him do. The man took a few steps back trying to throw her off. Within an instant he had twisted around and had thrown Caroline to the ground. Her head smashed into a rock and blood started to drip from the side of her head as she laid there in pain.

"Caroline!"Niklaus rushed to them, forgetting about his pain.

The man was laughing crookedly looking at Caroline "Well aren't you a pretty little thing?"

Tatia came over to help Caroline but her nervous hands could not pull Caroline up.

"You will pay for that!" Niklaus was raged, his voice was frightening than a one of a beast.

He sprang and manically started to assault the man.

They brawled for only a while, for suddenly the man shrieked as if he was in immense pain and Niklaus got off of him, looking at the man on the ground confounded holding the knife in his hand.

"What have you done Niklaus?" Tatia left Caroline's side, and looked down at the man who was lying in the ground.

"I… he" Niklaus stared at the bloody knife in his hands.

"Niklaus! Are you hurt?" Caroline had managed to pull herself back up and came running towards Niklaus.

"Is he dead?" Tatia asked moving closer to the man lying on the ground.

"No… " He was rather hoping than confirming.

"He is not dead, but he is not going to live either" Caroline stood over the man who was barely breathing, he was cut in several places, the most prominent was the one that looked like a big hole that seemed to have been dug in the way of his heart.

"We need to get him to the village, Niklaus come help me" Caroline was trying to pull the man up.

Yet, Niklaus still looked upon the man in shock, unmoved from his previous stance. "He would not make it, Caroline" he uttered.

Regrettably Niklaus was found to be right, for after loudly panting for air the man stopped breathing completely, he simply laid there, with his eyes and mouth opened as if he had been frozen in time.

The knife slipped from Niklaus's blood covered hands to the ground, as he watched the man he had just killed.

"What are we to do Niklaus? What am I to do? He was to be my husband?" Tatia broke into a loud hectic cry.

Caroline went to her friend, "Niklaus! Are you alright? What shall we do now? Shall we take him to the village and tell them what had happened?" she asked him softly.

He knelt to the ground, holding his head in both his hands; he was too overwhelmed to even shed the tears that were looming in his eyes. "If we take him back... and tell them what had happened, Would they believe us? It would only serve to make my father right… it would make my mother hate me even more… I cannot tell them, we cannot tell them… we shall keep this to ourselves" he turned to Caroline who had knelt beside him, his eyes beseeching her to agree with him.

She pondered for a moment, watching him, her distressed friend. She pondered whether she should simply do the right thing or do what was right by her friend, "we shall then keep this a secret…" she nodded at him, and looked over at Tatia who still paced back and forth like a crazed woman.

"Tatia," Caroline shook the woman by her shoulder, "You must not talk of this to anyone, if you had ever loved Niklaus, you will keep quiet about this…"

"But... how? What shall I say, when they start looking for him?" Tatia's scared eyes glanced at the man on the ground.

"You say nothing" Caroline said in a commanding voice.

"But… his body?" Tatia stared at Caroline, as if astounded at what Caroline was prepared to do for her friend.

"Go… go home and get some rest… we will take care of it... Forget this ever happened" Niklaus had managed to get himself together but he did not sound as confident as he may have wanted.

Tatia agreed fearfully and took a few unsure steps before she ran back home trying to erase the traces of tears that was on her face.

The two comrades looked at each other, as they were not quite sure how they were supposed to deal with any of it. Since something or the other had to be done Niklaus started dragging the man from his arms and Caroline helped him by taking the dead man's feet, neither had no clue where they were supposed to go, but they walked.

They had walked to the deep parts of the forest. Niklaus could sense the body becoming rather heavy for Caroline, as her hands started to slip, and loose her grip once in a while.

They came to a standstill as they found themselves standing on top of a hill looking down on its deep steep. Up above them the skies were dark, the ominous cloud cover had stretched over the whole length of the sky and below they could see nothing but trees and could hear nothing but the wind that moved between the leaves. They themselves had never wondered to the forest that far before, and was certain no villager would ever deem to walk as far as they had, especially since they feared being hunted by werewolves.

Silently they had come to an agreement to throw the dead man off the cliff.

It fell, breaking branches, and wines that stood in its path. A few thuds were heard as it hit the ground.

They still felt the weight of the man that they had released to what seemed like an endless pit on their hands; they kept glaring at the tree tops that had hidden the man very cleverly.

Niklaus glanced at Caroline. She was looking down as if she too was thinking of jumping off the cliff.

"Caroline" he called her gently, his hand reaching out to her and as soon as his hand touched her, her features changed, she stooped holding her stomach crying.

"Caroline, do not cry… please…. Do not..." he bent down and weltered his hands around her.

"What have we done Niklaus?" she wailed hiding her face in his arms.

"We did what had to be done… No one would have believed us… they all knew how I felt about Tatia… If we had taken the dead body of the man she was betrothed to, they would not think twice to believe that I killed him out of anger… because of Tatia... because I did not want to see her with anyone else" He was justifying his reasons not only to the weeping Caroline, also to himself.

"What do we do if they find it?" she held on to him seeking some sort of security.

"No they will not … even if they did, dead men cannot talk love… when they find him there will not be anything but his bones left of him" he gave the reassurance that she sought after and lifted her head by her chin and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "I am sorry you had to do this" he worryingly scanned the little cut she had gotten on her head and it still maddened him to see that graze on her.

She kissed him back on his forehead. "I promised to be there for you… and I will be, no matter what"

A smile brightened his face, and his smile brought a smile upon her.

The sky above them roared and when Caroline looked up on the heavens, her face was greeted with little droplets of rain.

"Let us head home" he stood up, his hand clutching her hand.

She got up with his support and her eyes caught the sight of his blood smeared cloth. "Niklaus are you not hurt?"

Before he could answer, the merciless rain poured down. He drew her under the shade of one big oak tree. They were not in the rain for long, yet it had rained too heavily for them to have escaped before getting soaked.

"Does it hurt?" she lifted his wet tunic to see his wound, she winced, preparing herself to see his insides. But astonishingly there was nothing there, not even a mark, a scratch. He jolted as Caroline's warm fingers made contact as they timidly inspected where the lesion should be. "But.. But I saw you… I saw the knife go through you"

"I thought.. I thought it did too… "He too searched madly. "This cannot be…" he twisted around, seeking for the cut he surely had seen on himself.

"What is happening Niklaus? Has this happened before?" Caroline took her hand away from his stomach, frightened.

"No… never... "He gawked at Caroline, and she was as dumbfounded as him.

"We should ask someone or tell someone of this" Caroline stared back worried of the unknown.

"No… let us wait… and see what becomes of this… and then we shall decide… till then this shall remain between the two of us and no one shall know of this… " he cupped the face of the frightened girl that stood before him.

"If it is what you want Niklaus… if you think that is what's best for you… then it shall remain only between the two of us…" she agreed yet not without apprehension "but, I am afraid for you… I am worried"

"Do not worry Caroline. Nothing bad would come of this… I can feel it… this is for the best…. I promise..." He kissed her concerned little forehead once more.

A tear ran down from her eye "At least you may not get a bump on your head, the next time I hit you with an apple" she was trying to make herself feel at ease, make herself laugh.

It did make him smile however, for she always knew how to find the good within the bad, even in the worst of times.

He looked up at the sky, the rain was not falling as ruthlessly as before. "Shall we head home?"

She came out of the shelter of the tree, her fingers entangled with his.

She started to run dragging him along.

However brutal the rain had been he was thankful it had washed away the blood that at one time he had felt was covering his whole body, and he was thankful for the brutal rain for it made him see Caroline differently, almost as if he had for the first time discovered her to be a woman rather than a girl, the way her soaked clothes clung to her, the way her skin glowed when she looked back at him time to time, as she ran ahead of him, made him think of things a good friend should not be thinking of the other.

"What is it Nik?" she slowed down and turned for she had found him lagging behind.

"Nothing" he uttered shaking his head, attempting to shake off the deviant thoughts out of his head once and for all. He had thought he had done just that, when he took charge and led her home, and started to concentrate more on why his heart beat as wildly.


	3. The Nemesis

**The Nemesis**

_1492 AC England…_

The night was dark as any full moon night would allow it to be. Clouds that slowly moved about only showed themselves when they managed to glide closer to the moon.

Niklaus Mikaelson sat near his window, watching the moon that had taken over the sky putting the tiny stars to shame.

He was in his ill lit bedroom, and as almost every full moon night, he sat pondering as to what he used to be and what he had become. His eyes wandered to the trees that stood at the boundaries of the fortress that he had built around him, and by chance his eyes caught something unusual taking place at the usually lonely grounds behind the stables. Two blurry figures shrouded in black were running across the ground, hiding behind one tree and moving to another, in a speed only a creature like him could, only a vampire like him could.

For a mere second he waited, surveying the two shadows as they ran into the stables before he decided to follow them.

He was quick enough and careful enough to reach the stable doors without being noticed by anyone, and the fact they were too involved in their own conversation too was to his advantage.

"We need to get you out of here," Niklaus could hear a whisper of a notably familiar male voice say rather hastily.

"What if Lord Klaus finds out that you had helped me escape Trevor? I am afraid of what he may do to you and Rose," hushed a frightened female and Niklaus was able to find a little crack between the wooden doors to peek through and learn that it was 'Katherina Petrova', Tatia Petrova's doppelganger, that he had been keeping captive in the hopes of breaking the curse that had kept his werewolf side dormant for the past few centuries.

She was talking in a very secretive low voice with 'Trevor', someone who he had considered to be one of his most loyal followers.

In the middle of the two conspirers, a third one was seen quietly standing, roughly half a step back and the face veiled, hidden by a hood. Niklaus by the size and the stance gathered it may be a woman, and a quite familiar frame at that.

Trevor kept trying to persuade Katherina, who seemed to take a step back whenever he reached out to take her hand and leave. "I am well aware of what I am doing and so is Rose. She is waiting for us three outside the gates as we speak. Sooner we go the better, more we wait here worrying about Lord Klaus finding out our part in the matter, the chances are we may not live to worry about anything,"

Nicklaus kicked the stable doors open, making the horses stir within their stalls, "Well aren't you the bright one. Katherina you should have run when you had the chance," His brows narrowed to match his cunning smile.

"Klaus! We were… he…" Katherina stumbled on her words, and her edgy fingers let the lamp in her hand fall to the floor. It burnt off as soon as it hit the floor leaving only the bluish light of the moon to carry on with its duties.

"Do as you may, but I will not let you sacrifice her!" Trevor stood in front of Katherina and the hooded one.

"Do not tell me you have fallen in love with this worthless human? May be you are not so clever after all," Niklaus approached them with a cocky smile.

The hooded woman came to the front, dragging out a considerably hefty sword out of her robe, "Trevor, take Katherina and get out of here! I will take care of him,"

Trevor watched their accomplice with fright, "But, Caroline…"

"Caroline?" Nicklaus looked on, as she dropped her hood and revealed herself.

"Surprised to see me Niklaus? Or should I call you 'Lord Klaus'?" She smiled arrogantly, her sharp blade tightly clasped by both her hands. The moon light that came in from the broken stable doors, bounced on her face making her look almost angelic.

"The Niklaus you knew is long gone Caroline… And unlike him I will not think twice about killing you to stop Katherina from escaping," he was prompt to mask his shock with a slight shrewd smile.

Caroline took a few steps forward towards Klaus, "Trevor, Go Now!", she had run and blocked Klaus with her sword before he even begun to go after Trevor who had finally decided to listen to her and take Katherina.

He laughed looking at the sword that was in his throat, "If you think you can kill me with that thing, you are quite mistaken love,"

"I merely need to keep you engaged until Katherina is out of harm's way," in maddening speed she lifted the heavy sword as if to behead him.

Not so surprisingly, he was found to be faster than her. Swing after swing he kept evading her. His grin did not leave his face even for a second, and it only got wider while he watched and defended himself against Caroline as she madly attacked him, her hair running loose, dancing along with her and falling on to her face.

However, without him realizing she had managed to keep him occupied, keep him from running after Katherina and Trevor. It may have been her constant attacks, or for the simple reason he would not allow himself to run away from a fight, or for the fact that he could not for some reason, a reason he rather not delve in, ignore the blue eyed foe that stood before him and just leave.

She leapt with her sword aimed at him.

He in high speed went around her and grabbed the sword from her hand, pushing her to the ground, "It has been a while since I had this much fun before killing someone," he examined the blade as if to ensure whether it was up to the task and looked at the unarmed Caroline, who stood gasping in rage.

"It is not a stake, and may not keep you dead for long, but it will do for the moment," He gloated.

"I am not the Caroline Archer you knew either," Caroline grabbed a broom, the only tool that was closest to her in haste, may be with the foolish hope that it could help her defend herself against an 'Original Vampire'.

"What are you going to do Caroline? Sweep me to death?" He laughed as she broke the broom into two, and took one part to her hand, throwing the other behind her.

Nonetheless, as the fuming Caroline came running his way with the broken broom stick he stood guard, for a broom it may be but it was indeed wooden. Though he was immortal, he knew a wooden stake could paralyze him even if it was merely for a fraction of a second.

He simply defended himself as she tried to thrust the somewhat sharp end of the broom towards him. He did not even think of attacking, yet the puny stick had broken into pieces and the sword had cut her shoulder lightly.

With a furrowed darken face he looked up on her shredded robe that revealed her scraped and bleeding skin.

"For someone who would not think twice before killing me, you certainly seem very concerned…Do not worry Ni… Klaus, it would heal in no time. You may not remember this, but little less than five hundred years ago you turned me into a vampire," Caroline sneered as she tore off the torn part of the robe that hung from her shoulder.

"Concerned?" he barfed out a snicker watching her healing scar, "You are fooling yourself Caroline. I feel nothing of the sorts… And might I remind you it was your own doing that made me turn you?" The anger he had been feeling for years, he felt pouring onto the sword. He raced towards Caroline in tremendous speed, making her run backwards and crash against one of the stable walls as he put her own sword against her neck, "What do you think now love? Do I seem to be concerned about your life still?" While pushing his weight onto her, he placed his free arm against her, right above her chest, to make sure she had no room to put up a struggle.

She grunted, roared as the little bit of the moon beams that reflected off of the blade landed on her eyes, and he was caught in two minds watching his enemy struggle, for her fluttering angry stare, the way she smelled reminded him of the past, what she had meant to him centuries ago.

Her hands somehow had freed themselves and had gotten a hold of his neck. The tense hands were set on strangling him to death. Yet it only made him quiver as her lean fingers touched him and as if to ward off the sensation he smiled at her attempt.

She was about to shout out something in protest, when Klaus suddenly covered her mouth with his hand and shushed her.

"Who are you?" one of Klaus's servants was heard uttering from the inside of his mansion before the large bang and crashes suggested that the servant was thrown off to somewhere.

"Where are you boy? Where are you hiding? I know you are too much of a coward to take the risk and come out and run!" it was the very much hated voice of his father that had caught his ears.

Klaus hated that his father was right, for he may have been more than five centuries old, yet he found himself still squirming at his patronizing voice, hating and dreading him just as he did when he was young, when he was a mere human.

"Come out Klaus! Come and greet your father!" as he heard his father's robust footsteps roam about his house, he felt a mouse in a lion's skin. Thus he did what a mouse would do, and hid inside a minute storeroom next to him, with Caroline still in his hold, with the sword pointed at her neck and the other hand still on her mouth. Yet this time he could not feel her strive to escape, nor did her eyes stare back heatedly at him anymore, they actually were quite the opposite, they seem well aware of his father's presence and its effect on him.

To their fortune his father, may not have expected his son to be in the stable at that time of night, or hiding in a storeroom for safety, for he kept on searching only inside of the mansion.

Klaus and Caroline stood, trapped in the confined space, without moving, waiting for their ears to capture the sound of Mikael leaving. A difficult a task as it was to remain undetected from his father, he found it more difficult to keep still while Caroline stood ever so close to him, feeling her soft lips pressed against his fingers.

Mikael's footsteps were heard fading away, and Klaus realized he had been staring deeply into Caroline seeking her out in the very little light, as if he wanted her to comfort him, as she had done centuries back.

He could feel himself wanting to lean in closer to her, and even he had no clue as to what he was expecting to do, yet he succumbed to the notion and kept moving closer.

She had no room to move back, so she stood there watching him, letting him come.

Suddenly, he heard her muted screech tremble within his palm, only to realize he had unintentionally grazed her neck with the sword. The sight of the little scrape on her made him drop the sword and before he could remember to catch it, the sword had fallen, its sharp clunking noise resonating within their vampire ears.

They in unison turned to the store room door, for they both understood whose ears that noise may have reached.

As feared Mikael's fading footsteps abruptly stopped, and now had begun to make its way to the stable.

Klaus picked up the sword swiftly and managed to shove Caroline behind him and stand in front of the closed door, waiting for his father.

He stood listening to the sound of Mikael walking in, the way it provoked the horses to panic, as if they too had realized the wrath of his father.

His vigilant steps could be heard through all the commotion, inching closer to where they were.

Klaus could sense Caroline's fretful eyes, staring at him from the back, he felt as though her hand reaching out to his as if to show her support, yet he dismissed the idea at once as it being merely his imagination playing tricks on him, for her hand did not stay there for long.

Klaus watched from the small gaps between the wooden door as Mikael shouted just a couple of feet away from the store room, "Come out boy! Fight me like a man! Let me kill you and be done with it,"

One of Klaus's horses, 'Caesar', his favorite one, he saw breaking down its stall door and try to attack Mikael standing on its two back feet.

The first kick as it was unexpected, made his father fall on his back and stand up even more furiously, drawing out his sword.

Seeing Mikael pulling out his sword on his loyal friend Caesar, Klaus felt the urge to walk out and help, yet this time he was certain, he felt Caroline's hand stopping him. Sure enough he turned his head to find her pleading eyes asking him to stay, for she, as well as he, knew that Mikael would not be the easiest Original to fight against and that even two against one he may still have the advantage.

Caesar could only strike his father once more for he had severed its neck callously, stirring the other horses and making them scream as though they were crying for their fallen friend.

Klaus could not hide in there any longer, he burst out, "You will pay for that Father!" the sword in his hand was ready to strike his father.

Caroline stood beside him, prepared to attack.

"Ah I was right, you were hiding… you have always been a coward Klaus," he laughed, "And Caroline, do not tell me you are still frolicking along with this fool?"

"May be I am, maybe I am not, I fail to see why you need to concern yourself with that!" Caroline spewed out glaring at Mikael.

Klaus could feel a tinge of triumph, and a sense assurance run over him hearing Caroline who was supposedly his 'enemy' talking back to his father with such spite.

"Well my dear, it does concern me. Anyone who dares to mingle with Klaus, be it human or vampire…" he paused and raised his eyebrow and looked down at Caesar's head, "or an animal, I cannot let them live,"

"Then you will have to kill all of us father," In front of the entrance to the stables, stood Elijah.

"Elijah!" Klaus felt relieved as he felt that their odds had gotten slightly better as his father's face turned somewhat beset.

"Then I shall," Mikael threw his sword to the side and pulled out what looked like a rather pale old stake and sprung himself at the oldest of his two sons.

As Elijah jumped back, Klaus pounced at Mikael from the back, the sword targeting the back of his head.

Mikael turned and moved out of the way and the sword missed Elijah's head by inches, "Sorry brother," Klaus added before he turned around to attack his father.

Mikael kicked Klaus on the gut, and he was pushed back a few steps.

Elijah picked up the broken stable door and smashed it on his father's head, and as billions of wood scraps flew everywhere, Caroline who had gathered Mikael's sword pressed it right through his chest. The stake in his hand rolled down into a stack of hay in the corner of the stable.

Klaus quickly took one of the broken pieces of the door and thrust it on to his father's heart, killing him temporarily.

"Niklaus, we need to go before he wakes up again, we are no longer safe here, and… Caroline… you too should come…" Elijah warned knowing in a few seconds his father would wake up and pull out the sword from his heart.

"Yes," Niklaus looked worryingly at Caroline who kept looking down at Mikael.

"Niklaus! Caroline! We should go now," Elijah loitered staring at the former two friends for a second and ran off.

Elijah's departure created a gush of wind that hit Klaus right on his face. It broke his stare from Caroline as it reminded him that he too should run off before his father awoke, thus he began to run after his brother.

They had hurriedly run a few miles when Klaus noticed he was running away dragging Caroline by her hand, running away with Caroline who he no longer considered a friend.

"Nik," she called him as they ran, but he did not want to turn.

He ran even faster.

Yet, when he felt her slip through his fingers he inevitably turned his head back.

When he turned she had already escaped his clasp and was standing behind, looking at him.

He stared back as his stupid feet ran forward; her figure was getting smaller as he ran farther. He wanted to stop, tell her something, but he could not understand what or how.

And while he was busy rationalizing every darn thought, she had run off to somewhere far away.

It may have been the fact that he was running in the moon light and his dormant werewolf side was striving to come out for he was sure he felt his vampire-heart beat loudly as he stared at the empty space where Caroline stood before.

"Niklaus! What are you doing? Where's Caroline?" Elijah asked when he had spotted Klaus struggling to keep up.

"She went her own way," Klaus turned back around and went ahead of his brother.

"I hope she will be alright by herself," Elijah shouted looking behind.

"She has been for centuries, has she not? Why should we care anyway?" somehow he knew he could not either convince Elijah or himself with that answer, and he decided to run even faster.

He whizzed through the trees, as if to run from the moonlight that hit his back, as it reminded him how once upon a time he used to love the full moon, the sense of freedom it gave him. Though it caused him pain, made him break every bone in his body, he used to love the way it felt the next morning, especially waking up with his blonde friend by his side.

"_Do you feel different Niklaus?" he remembered her placing his hand on his cheek, as they both sat in their usual place in front of the stream._

"_Different? Yes… but I feel good... I cannot explain it Caroline," he stood up and turned to face Caroline, who looked warily at the sky for the moon was about to come up._

_As he clasped her face and moved his face closer, she looked down, "I do not know why Niklaus, but I feel as though something bad is about to happen," _

_He sought her hiding eyes, "Do not worry, Caroline, it has been days since we found out that I can heal and nothing bad has happened… and no one has even talked about the man… why he is missing or if he was dead… I do not see any reason to worry," He sat next to her putting his arm around her tiny shoulder._

"_Now… that Tatia is not betrothed to anyone, now that he is dead… are you… do you…wish to marry her still?" she glanced at him and then hesitantly looked back down, as if she was afraid he would find something in her face that she wished to keep secret._

"_I do not know Caroline… If I were to ask for her hand, I fear that it may bring about doubt that I had something to with the death of the man she was betrothed to, I shall… I need time to think," his eyes wondered to Caroline and saw her face shrink, "But you should not worry so much," the more he tried to comfort her the more bothered she seemed and he could not bear it , thus to make the situation lighter he forged a smile, "Maybe it is time Caroline Archer looked for a good man for herself… all of this worrying is starting bring lines into your face, I hear Elijah still has not given up on you," _

_She got up pushing his hand off "I do not have any reason not to marry him, do I? May be I will accept him!"_

_He smiled, for he liked her angry, more than worried for some reason._

_She sharply turned to his smiling face, "He is quite strong, honest and I think I love him, Yes! I think I love Elijah Mikaelson! I better go home and let my parents know of it, I must tell them I am ready to be married," she declared and turned back as if to head back home._

_He felt his plan had backfired for it was he who was now feeling troubled and annoyed, "Good for you Caroline Archer, then I can live in peace knowing you may not have to die an old maid!"_

_She infuriated by his words, turned and pushed him to the rocky ground and he shouted as the rocks hit his back._

"_Are you hurt?" her face was crumpled again in a flash._

"_No, I am fine, nothing happened, even if something had happened I would have healed," he playfully held out his hand asking for Caroline's help to stand up._

_She lent her hand and pulled him up._

_He came up swiftly and stopped straight in front of her face. Their eyes lingered on each other for a second before she broke their tangled hands and moved back._

"_I think we should go home, we do not want to be eaten by werewolves," she uttered casting her eyes anywhere but his way._

"_I do not fear them anymore Caroline, the wolves cannot hurt me, no one can… You saw how I healed… and I will not let them hurt you either," he zealously pulled Caroline down to sit with him for he did not want to go back to what he regrettably had to call as his home._

"_We do not know why you healed as quickly and we do not know how long it will last… let us not take it too lightly and head home before the moon comes out…" She gazed at the sky searching for the moon once more._

_He teased his overly concerned friend, "May be I am one of them, I will turn into one of them, when the moon comes out," he then rolled around in the ground acting as if he was going to transform into a beast._

"_That is not funny Niklaus Mikaelson!" agitated by his poor attempts to be humorous, Caroline began to walk off._

"_Caroline, wait for me!" he got up quickly and followed his livid friend._

"_Do not do that again Niklaus or I will…" She could not finish, for once more he had tumbled to the ground, holding his head._

"_Agh… It hurts," he screamed, twisting in pain._

"_It is not amusing! Stop!" Caroline yelled, looking at him as he started to almost tear his clothes off._

"_My skin… It feels as if it is burning, "He shouted out in the midst of the deep pain._

"_Niklaus! What is happening to you?" she bent down and tried to turn him to her side._

_He looked up at her, and saw her frightened eyes, "Caroline, I…" He felt his bones twist and turn within his skin. _

_He had not ever screamed as so in his life, he had not felt that he had that many bones in his body till he heard them break apart as so._

"_What should I do? What can I do to make it stop? Should I get help?" she struggled to hold on to him, as he began to move erratically on the rocky floor._

"_No! Do… not tell anyone…" his gums began to bleed and he felt his teeth becoming sharper, "You should go Caroline… Go!" he grunted, and the roar like sound that followed scared not only Caroline but himself as well._

_Yet she did not seem to have any reservations about staying for she covered his half bare body with her own, hoping to provide whatever comfort she can. "No! I cannot leave you like this! Nik, I will stay with you,"_

_It did make him feel better; it did make him forget the pain that did not seem to end and it helped him fall asleep. _

_Time to time he would wake up in pain, only to see Caroline stare at him, only to hear Caroling say whatever she could to make him feel better, only to feel the pain become worse, to feel his bones snap and joints crack more._

_He opened his eyes again; Caroline was staring at him from a few steps back. She looked different, as if she feared for her life, and he felt different as if he wanted to taste her flesh._

_He howled into the moon and Caroline he saw walk a few steps back before she started to run._

_At first, he waited confused watching her flee into the dark forest._

_He did not understand what force was driving him, but he began to run after her. _

_He had never run as fast as he had that day, he had not felt as free as he did that day, he had not felt as hungry as he did as he followed Caroline into the darkness that day._

_He could smell her somewhere near, he could feel her presence still lingering in the woods, possibly looking for some place to hide from him._

_He trailed her scent, sniffing the ground. _

_He jumped over a little puddle of muddy water and caught his reflection on it, and it is then he realized that he too had become one of the creatures that the villagers feared; he truly was one of 'them', a 'werewolf'. _

_He understood why Caroline ran away and why he felt the urge to follow her. Yet he believed even with the realization, even with the understanding that Caroline was his friend the need to taste the flesh of someone became unstoppable and unbearable. Thus he relentlessly began to seek Caroline._

_It did not take him that long to sniff her out and corner her._

"_Niklaus! No! Do not do this! Please!" he could hear her scream, but he only wanted to listen to her thumping heart._

_He howled once again, as if to declare his victory and from a distance he could hear some more wolves howl back as if to commend him._

_He prowled around her as she kept her eyes closed in fear._

_Then he jumped at her, making her shivering body fall to the muddy ground. He then stood on his four feet hovering over her, growling at her face._

"_Nik," she spoke softly and her blue eyes slowly revealed themselves as she began to slither back, using her feet to push her weight along the ground._

_Roaring loudly he went in aiming for her neck, and she closed her eyes once more and a tear dripped down from her eye._

_He froze for he could not bite her; he could not hurt her, he did not want to see her tears, for it was 'Caroline', his Caroline._

_He went few steps back and howled, not to gloat, but as if to let the world know no one was to hurt her not even him._

_He found her sitting and staring at him petrified. _

_Not knowing how to approach her, not knowing how to let her know he would not dare harm her, he stood somewhat back._

_Astoundingly, she began to crawl towards him. _

_Not wanting to scare her off he sat motionless, not moving even a hair on his body. _

_When she was close enough to touch him, her tentative hand reached out to him slowly. _

"_Nik," she called when her fingers made contact with his forehead._

_He moved his nose up to meet her hand._

_She looked at him nervously as his wet nose met her fingers._

_He stood on his feet and followed her extended arm that floated in midair and ended up on her face. Learning that her fears had started to fade, he wandered into her golden hair. _

_He was excited to see her beam lively, tickled as his nose ruffled her hair._

_Rejoicing over the fact that his friend had accepted him, he howled once more._

_He then ran a few yards, and looked back hoping she would follow him. For one she would not be safe wandering by herself and the other he wanted her to be there with him, share the feeling of freedom he felt with her._

_She stood up, and waited watching him for she was unsure what he wanted her to do. _

_He growled, as if to command her to follow him._

_Even he did not know how, but she had understood him, for she was now running towards him, and he then eagerly ran forward, looking back once in a while to see whether she was still there._

_Once he let her lose him, just to run around her and scare her._

"_Niklaus Mikaelson, Do not leave me in the woods like that again!" she threatened._

_If he was human he would have laughed out, but all he could muster was another loud howl._

_They ran; they walked through the woods and after wandering about the woods for hours they headed back to the stream for a rest, for the sun was about to rise and hours of playing around in the night was finally getting to Caroline._

_She lay upon their rock, her head resting next to where their names were._

_He sat as if to stand guard, to make sure no one, no other man or beast came to disturb their peace and looked upon at the dying moon as Caroline fell asleep._

_In a while he lay next to Caroline, his eyes closed and his head resting on her._

_His eyes only opened when the sensed the sunrise, as its rays prickled his eye lids._

_He grudgingly glared at the sun that was about to rise, then naturally his eyes wandered to the warmth beside him, to the woman he seemingly had been holding onto the whole of the night. _

_She lay enveloped in him, one of her hands resting on his bare chest, her feet tangled in his, her face partly covered by her silky hair._

_He gently brushed away the hair and uncovered the parts of the face that were hidden. He had never felt so fascinated by her ever before, as a matter of fact he was not sure whether he had ever felt as so about anyone before. He figured, it may have been the events of last night, or it may have something to do with being a werewolf or it had all to do with the way she, his friend, lay so close to his bare body._

_Her eyes too opened refusing to meet the sun, looking at him with a smile._

_He smiled back, his fingers lightly caressing her cheek, making her quiver._

"_You need to put on some cloths Niklaus!" suddenly she stood covering her eyes with her hand._

_He got up smiling cheekily, and seeing her turn around with her eyes still covered, he laughed loudly, "Do not scream Caroline. Do not act as if you have not ever seen me without clothes," _

"_I have not!" She was quick to exclaim._

_He walked around gathering the remains of the clothes that he had torn off of himself last night. "Yes… I am mistaken…It was me who had seen you…" _

"_What? When? That cannot be!" She turned around protesting, taking her hand off her face, but only for an instant for as she saw that he was not still dressed she had covered her eyes with her hand once more._

"_I saw you few moments after you were born…" he put on his partly ripped tunic, watching Caroline's rosy cheeks with a grin._

"_Oh…" She sighed, and eagerly spoke as if to erase the awkwardness with some humor, "You cannot count it, and it is not fair… I did not know any better to cover myself," she laughed, her eyes still hidden beneath her hand._

"_Not fair? You were but one day old when I saw you, it is me who has been treated unfairly," he then walked over to Caroline and moved her hands down. _

_She seemed glad that he had somehow managed to wear the rest of his ragged clothes._

"_So, May be we should make it fair then Caroline," he almost whispered, as he breathed in the intoxicating smell of her. _

_As he stared into her she looked at him with a confused grin, her cheeks completely flushed, "What has come over you Niklaus? You are not being yourself," She shoved him back._

_He clutched her hands and stared at their bond, "I do not know Caroline, everything seems clearer," _

_She slowly drew her hands away and he felt something stir within him, looking at his empty hands._

"_What do you mean Niklaus?" she asked and her tone confused him, for he could not truly put his newly found emotions to words._

_He got up on the rock and stood looking at the far end of the sky "I feel alive Caroline, more alive than I have ever felt, I feel free!" he shouted at the mountains._

"_I am happy for you Niklaus," she truly did seem happy, but the bit of worry that remained in her face, did not escape his notice._

"_Are you worried of what would happen to me if the others come to know of my secret?" he jumped down from the rock._

_She nodded innocently._

"_Do not Caroline, No one will ever come to know this, we shall not let it, we shall come here every full moon night and be as free as we were last night!" he gently grabbed her by the shoulders, eager to persuade her._

"_Alright then," she agreed forcing a smile. _

_He happily pulled her into a hug._

"Niklaus, why would our father think he can kill us with some stake, Do you suppose that there could be more to that stake than we thought?" Elijah's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"I… Do… I.. not" he could not fully comprehend the question for though he was now running alongside his brother his mind was still stuck in the past. Therefore he chose not to say anything further and ran faster towards what looked like a ship sailing to sea.

They both had no idea where it was going, but they almost flew over to it.

As the men within the ship shouted furiously at the uninvited guests and got ready to throw them overboard, Klaus stood at the edge of the ship unruffled by the agitated humans, looking at the pier as if to give his adieus to everything he was leaving behind.


	4. The Curse

**The Curse**

_1823 AC France…_

The horses were dragging the carriage through the rain, along the rugged terrain leading to the château; the château, which Klaus had managed to compel out of the hands of its elderly owner, who was nearing his dying age.

"How far off are we?" Rebekah yawned looking at the sleeping old man in front of her with revulsion, "Why do we need him anyway?" She turned to Klaus that was sitting next to her, caught in some sort of deep thought.

Elijah who was seated alongside the old man gently pushed him away as he had started to fall on him, "For protection, we need him for protection… if we had killed him, that would mean any vampire may walk in as they please. So we have made him write out the deed in a way, the château would belong to us only after his death… hopefully after a natural death," He looked sympathetically at the meager old man, for he knew their company certainly would not ensure him a longer life.

"By any vampire, you do mean our dear vampire hating father don't you?" Rebekah watched Klaus's face squirm at the mere mention of Mikael.

As if to run away from the conversation, Klaus moved the little curtain that covered his window and looked at the silhouette of the unsuspecting château, which lay few miles ahead.

"Hopefully, I will be able to find what I am looking for, in there," He muttered softly.

"And what exactly are you looking for Nik?" Rebekah yawned again, only to show how bored she was of all of it.

Both the brothers glanced at each other, for they both did not want to tell Rebekah as they did not want her to be burden with any of their plans, but even more so because they did not want her to burden them with all the ifs and the whys in the world.

"So the two of you do not wish to tell me? Fine! It is not as if you are planning world domination without telling me, and even if you were I simply do not care!" She irritated by her brothers' silence, turned to the window on her side, and looked up at the night sky.

Elijah glared back at Klaus, for he was not the kind of man that liked keeping secrets from his family, especially secrets that he and Klaus both knew could in some way truly lead Klaus making an army capable of conquering the world.

Klaus turned back to his window, thinking about the prospects that may lie within the old man's mansion, thinking whether what the not so friendly witch told them about the 'moonstone' being somewhere within the mansion was true or not.

He sighed, remembering the years and days he had been searching for the moonstone, that small piece of rock, which may change the course of his own destiny by helping him break the curse that was put upon him by his own mother. Centuries may have passed but he could still vividly remember how it all happened, how he came to be what he was.

"_Tatia!" He ran towards her when he saw her walk by._

"_Niklaus… it… it is good that you are here… I..I must talk with you," She seemed quite edgy after what had happened in the woods._

"_Shall we then go somewhere and talk, I need to talk to you as well," He did not know what he was about to say, all he knew was things needed to be resolved between the two of them, before Tatia's situation became apparent to everyone._

_She followed him as he led her to some place more secluded._

_They quietly made their way under the shade of few trees, a place that did not normally fall to the notice of any other villagers._

"_Tatia... I…" He paused as if trying to put all the thoughts in an order before he actually spoke._

"_Niklaus… you are aware of that I am with child, and you are aware that the man I was betrothed to is… is no longer… alive…" She stuttered as she paced around gathering her words, "And so now I fear that I may have to take care of this child on my own… and live my whole life scorned by everyone… "_

"_I understand, and I…" He halted once again. He knew what he had to say, he knew he should tell her he would stand by his words and marry her to make sure her reputation was intact, for it was partly his fault she was in the situation that she was now, yet he could not say what he ought to. _

"_Niklaus, do you still want to become my husband? I did not wish to burden you with my troubles before, yet now I do not see any other way and I do not want my parents to die in shame hearing the villagers talk behind their backs about their daughters misfortune and her doings that led her there," She spoke in one breath as if she was afraid if she breathed she would lose the words forever._

"_I do want to do what is right…and... but..." He pondered looking at the brown eyed woman in front of her. She was what every red blooded young man in the village wanted, what he had always thought he wanted, a beautiful and a graceful woman. Yet it did not feel right, somehow now when he truly thought about it, he felt even the first time when he asked for her hand it did not in anyway feel right._

"_You do not wish to marry me then?" She spoke in a broken voice._

"_I do not know what to say…" He had always thought she was to be the woman that he would spend the rest of his life with, but more he looked into her eyes seeking his own reflection in them, the more he felt his reflection did not look quite right in them, and he doubted it may have never looked right in her brown eyes._

"_Niklaus, you are my only hope," She embraced him tightly, her head digging into his chest, her arms around his waist._

_He knew he cared for her, he felt bad for what had happened to her, but he was not quite sure he could go as far as to name it as something more meaningful, although in the past, not so long ago, he would not have thought twice to call it 'love', now he had begun to doubt it, doubt his feelings. For he had always thought love was supposed to feel like what he felt as Tatia held onto him, yet now, maybe it was because he was a werewolf or because of something else, he had come to learn that he had the capability to feel much more than that, and he had begun to realize he may as well have been in love with the idea of Tatia than the woman herself. _

"_I am sorry but I cannot…" He moved back, he had no intention of hurting her feelings, he had not intended to come and talk to her just to break her heart and hopes, but when she hugged he sensed that the feelings were not quite what it supposed to feel like._

"_Is there something that you are not telling me?" She glared nervously._

_He cast his eyes down, "No!" he lied, there were billions of things he had not told her, and he had no intention of telling them to her in the future either, "I think it is for the best. If we are to wed, purely because we have no other choice and not out of love, as time goes by we both would be unhappy, bitter, wishing that we had never met," _

"_You speak as if you had never cared for me to begin with…" She began to cry._

_He struggled to get the words out, "I… I did… but… it is not what I thought it was…" _

_She wiped her tears, "Is it because of Caroline?"_

"_What does Caroline have to do with any of this?" Though he acted taken aback by her words, inwardly he truly was curious to know her reasons that had made her come to such a conclusion._

"_I have always felt an outsider when you two were together, it seemed the both of you had your own language that no one else could understand, but I have always had the hope that one day you would include me in your life as you have included Caroline, because I have always cared for you, I still do, but now I see it was never to be…" Her cries were worsening, "It was not easy for me to say no to you when you asked me to marry you, but I had to… you should understand that… I have always cared for you" _

"_Tatia, it is not what you think… Caroline and I are…" He did not know the right term to describe them either, calling Caroline just his friend, in front of Tatia, suddenly felt as though it would somehow belittle Caroline._

"_If it is not what I think…Then it leaves me no other choice but to believe that you were only interested in me because you thought your brother was! And now…you are acting as though you want her as well because you have come to know that she is who Elijah wants!" She was furious, and he had never seen that side of her before._

"_No!" He second guessed his answer, "No!" he repeated, she had brought up questions that would have never crossed his mind otherwise, and it disturbed him._

"_Both you brothers are the same, you have taken me as some kind of a sport, and I hope that you two truly care for Caroline and are not using her in your wretched games, as you have done with me," She paused and he looked back muddled, hoping there was no truth to what she was saying._

"_Tatia… I was not playing any games… I was a mere boy when I told you I care for you…and back then I did not know what love was…" He looked at her swollen eyes._

"_And now you do?" She asked angrily._

"_I am not sure… Yet I know it is not what we have… you told me yourself Tatia, that I will find someone, who loves me more than you, Someone who I too would care for more deeply than you... I know you somewhere in your heart know that there has to be someone better for me because you too are not in love with me as you believe, otherwise you would not have said something as such… we were foolish children who did not know what love was, and maybe I still do not know or will not know it even if it hits me on the head, but I am willing to take the chance and say this is not it," He did not regret a word he said, as it for once felt true._

"_Do not twist my words Niklaus, I was merely trying to let you go and give you hope!" She shouted, but she looked confused as if she too realized the truth in his words._

"_I am sorry…What I said I feel is the truth… and I do feel I am responsible for everything as I was the one who killed the man that you were betrothed to, but I cannot do it… I cannot marry you... I am truly and deeply sorry," He was trying reach out to her but she moved back._

"_You are right Niklaus, you did not know what love meant then and I think you still do not know…" She turned around to go, "And… I wish you truly would not have to wait an eternity to just to learn what love means…" She uttered with her back turned to him._

"_I am sorry," He had nothing more to say to her as she ran off crying._

_He for a long while circled around the village before slowly making his way back home, every step he took he felt more guilty for what he had done, for leading her to believe he loved her, for leading himself into believing he too loved her for so long._

"_Nik, where have you been?" Rebekah came out of their hut, dragging along an axe._

_He was still thinking about what had happened earlier, "I was…"_

"_You better go and do your chores before father comes back," She handed him the axe and ran back inside._

_He walked over to the stack of logs that was in the corner, stared at it for he had forgotten what he was supposed to be doing. For everything Tatia said to him was ringing in his ear endlessly. He feared how he was to trust his feelings again if any of what Tatia accused him of was true, especially the part about being interested in women who Elijah was interested._

_As the heavy axe in his hand reminded him that he should be chopping wood, he picked up a log and put it on the chopping block and started to attack it as if it was responsible for all that was wrong with his life._

"_What has that poor log done to you to deserve such a beating?" Caroline's mocking voice approached him._

_He thrust the axe on the chopping block and turned to Caroline with a smile, "Caroline, what brings you here?"_

_She sat on the small bench next to the Mikaelson's hut, "When did I ever need a reason to come here?" _

"_True…" He felt his day had gotten brighter once more seeing her face, and started chopping wood without the frown that he had been walking with for the past few hours._

"_So… what happened? I am sure there is a reason for you to be swinging that thing so madly," She looked on as he carried on with his work._

"_I talked to Tatia," He swung the axe powerfully and the large log broke apart._

"_What did you tell her?" She asked eagerly._

_He picked up another log and placed it on the middle of the chopping block and heaved the axe once more, "I told her I cannot marry her," and he waited trying to learn what Caroline thought of his decision._

"_Oh? You said that? but… why?" she did not let him see her face, for she kept staring at the ground._

_He hit the log with great force, "I realized I only wanted her because I thought I should want her, I do not think I was ever really in love with her… and I may have wanted to have her because she was who everyone else wanted… I hope that makes some sort of sense," _

_She seemed as heartbroken as Tatia, "I think I do understand… but I feel bad for Tatia… Now she may not ever be married,"_

"_So do you think it would have been best if I had agreed to marry her?" He had given up on the chore all together, for he threw the axe to the ground and sat next to Caroline._

"_No, I mean it is your choice who you marry or love, it should not be done out of duty," Caroline stated in a very serious tone._

"_Thank you Caroline, the whole day I was feeling bad for what I did, but now that you approve of my decision, I feel much better," He gently took her hand into his._

_She nodded and stared at his hand, the way his thumb caressed her hand softly._

"_Well how are you my brother to be? And you Caroline?" Sage had come out of nowhere and had sat in between him and Caroline, putting her arms around both their shoulders._

"_Fine," He uttered looking angrily at his brother Finn who just stood there watching Sage be 'Sage'._

"_Good! So apples or Berries?" Sage talked as if she was drunk even though she was not._

"_What are you talking about?" Caroline laughed looking confusedly at Sage._

"_It is a game we started playing… each one has to guess what the other is thinking," Finn explained._

"_Oh… then I say Berries," Caroline played along with a smile._

"_And Niklaus? What do you think?" Sage turned to him._

"_I do not want to be playing this game," he looked crossed at Sage, for all he wanted to do was to talk with Caroline._

_Sage hit his arm angrily and turned to Finn, "Well you are no fun, what do you think love?"_

"_Apples?" Finn answered trying to squeeze in and sit in the little space left in the bench._

"_You are right Finn! I was thinking the same," Sage cheered, and she truly seemed more drunk than five seconds ago._

"_Niklaus, where are you going?" Caroline too stood up seeing that he was about to go._

"_How do we know you are not lying? This is such a dull game!" He spat angrily._

"_It is not a dull game! Let us go Finn… I think he is mad because we disturbed them," Sage got up and dragged Finn out of the bench._

"_Then we shall go inside," Finn stood up looking at his brother as if he had done something terribly wrong by the woman he loved._

"_So love or Friendship?" he could hear Sage ask Finn as she went inside the hut._

"_She always seems to be not in her right mind," He sat back on the bench and Caroline followed his lead._

"_So what will you choose love or friendship?" Caroline asked softly._

"_Do not tell me you like to play that game?" He looked at Caroline in disbelief._

"_No, I am not asking you to guess what I am thinking. I am asking what you will choose," Caroline's words were barely heard, for she spoke ever so gently._

"_Do you even need to ask? I will always choose… friendship, because my friend is you," he lightly tapped the tip of her nose with his index finger, happy he had come up with something that should make her happy._

"_Oh?" She for some reason seemed dissatisfied by the answer._

"_I thought I said I would choose you, why do you look so disappointed?" He turned his whole body so that he could see Caroline properly._

"_No… Nothing I am happy," she smiled, but it did not seem genuine._

"_So what will you choose?" he asked keenly._

"_Love…" she answered looking down, and he felt as though his whole body had started to shut down._

"_So…" he was trying to think of something clever to say to hide his discontent, "So… If you could ever save one, love or friendship, you would save love? … Does that mean, if mine and Elijah's lives were in danger, you would choose to save Elijah?" He thought he may have not been clever enough, for the question made it all the more uncomfortable for them both._

"_I have to go," Caroline got up abruptly._

_He caught her by the hand to stop her from leaving and got up, and stared at her face, "So tell me the answer before you go, I answered you, did I not?" the more he stared at her hiding eyes, more he found himself wanting to know her answer._

"_I do not love Elijah, and he is not my friend either, you did not ask the question right!" She released herself from his hold and stepped back creating bit more space between them._

"_So who do you love, Caroline?" he closed the gap, his hand clutching her forearm._

"_I do not love Elijah," she escaped him again and walked backwards, staring at him with a derisive smile._

"_Who then?" he took a step forward feeling the need to go behind her and get the answer he wanted._

"_Not Elijah!" she grinned playfully._

_Her smile could have meant a hundred things, but merged together with her answer, he found her smile very pleasing._

_She turned to run back home but could only take a step for she had bumped into Elijah._

"_Elijah!... I… when did…" Caroline was surprised and looked afraid probably as she feared he may have heard what she had been saying a few seconds ago._

"_Are you alright Caroline?" he bent down a bit to meet her face._

"_I am fine," She timidly turned around, "Niklaus, good bye! I shall see you later," she ran off leaving both brothers to stare at her fading figure._

"_I hope you heard what she said, she does not love you. I think you should let go of any hope that you may still be keeping," he did not know what drove him suddenly to say it, and Caroline he knew may as well kill him if she knew he had talked in that tone to his brother, or broke his heart, but he still did not care._

"_I suggest you finish your chores before father gets home," Elijah simply smiled and went inside._

_His elder brother's smile only added to his frustration, if he had lashed back, he would have felt better for he feared Elijah's silent smile could mean he is scheming of ways to win her._

_He picked up the axe and carried on with his much detested chore, thinking he should not truly be caring about what Elijah was planning in any case._

_By night time their father arrived and he managed to nick pick on everything and anything. It was his ritual whenever he came back empty handed from his hunting trips to always try and make himself feel better by taking his anger out on his family. Regrettably they were all quite accustomed to it._

_The next few days that followed, his father would come empty handed and his fury would escalate each time. He was the one his father always loved to pick on, and Caroline and his newly found werewolf side were his relief. _

_Three moons passed and as promised Caroline was by his side every night he transformed and was by his side the next morning when he woke up._

_Their bond seemed much stronger and he had begun to think there could certainly be some truth to what Tatia was speculating about the two of them, but he did not bring it up and let Caroline know of his suspicions about his feelings for he feared that what Tatia told him about playing games with his brother could also be true, as he had always felt competitive around his perfect brother, who so unlike him was loved and respected by everyone. He did not want to use Caroline in any game he may be playing unbeknownst to even himself and lose her as a friend as well._

_She came after him; it was difficult for her to keep up with him when he was in his wolf form, for she stopped regularly to catch her breath, "Wait Niklaus!"_

_He did not stop, for he like always wanted to scare her by letting her think he had left her, only to later come back from behind and pounce at her. It was the game his wolf self quite liked playing with her._

_He ran afar so that she could not see him, and started to run around to get to her again._

_As he neared to where she was he could hear a man, "What are you doing out here little girl? Are you lost? Do you not know what sorts of dangers are lurking in these woods? Especially in a full moon night?"_

"_Let me go!" Caroline screamed and he quickened his pace._

"_I came hunting for those beasts, and I thought I may go empty handed today, but seems I will be returning home with something better," the man laughed haughtily._

_In between the bushes his werewolf eyes could spot the man grabbing Caroline, the man he recognized to be one of his father's hunting partners. _

_The foul man, he noticed held some kind of a weapon on one hand, and Caroline on the other trying to lay his filthy lips on hers._

_He leapt at the man in high-speed and the weapon fell out of his hands and Caroline was released from his clutch._

_His piercing canine teeth bit off bits and pieces of the unarmed man._

"_No! stop!" Caroline yelled at him, but the wolf within him did not want to stop, for the taste of flesh in his mouth almost made him forget he was part human._

_He had bitten the man to death, and yet he was not done with him._

"_Niklaus stop!" She cried, and he stopped biting the man to look at her, and blood dripped from his mouth to the ground._

_She stood frozen looking at him, her eyes filled with tears._

_He howled to let her know, she did not have to be scared of him and that was what the man deserved._

_She may have not understood him, or may have, either way she ran off._

_He did not want to pursue her, for he thought she needed her time to recover from what she had seen him do, recover from seeing his true nature._

_As the moon started to hide into the mountains, he returned to the stream and sat on the lonely rock. _

_He missed her, he wanted to cry out her name, thus he howled into the sky._

_The next morning he woke up, he was alone, and being a werewolf suddenly seemed a very lonely prospect for he feared that Caroline may never come with him on a full moon night after what she saw last night._

_He did not have time to find Caroline and mend things with her, for as he returned home he was sent to hunt with his brothers. Although he did not truly hate any of them, he did not quite like talking to them, especially Kol, since whenever he opened his mouth he would stir up trouble._

_His werewolf senses helped them to hunt a few deer without much trouble and they returned home earlier than expected._

_They all entered their house merrily boasting about each other's part in their successful trip, but the scene that waited at their home erased the smiles straight out of their faces._

_Caroline was sitting down, with his parents hovering over her, "Niklaus, I am sorry," She looked up at him, her face completely damped by tears._

"_What is happening? Caroline are you alright?" He walked over to her, trying to understand why his mother too looked as depressed, why his father looked angrier than normal._

"_Father what has happened?" Elijah was concerned and the rest of his brothers too seemed to reflect the same kind of worry about their faces._

"_You may go now Caroline." His father ordered._

"_But…" Caroline turned to his father._

"_You are not needed here anymore, you may go!" his father shouted angrily._

_Caroline could do nothing but listen, and she seemed more distressed than he had ever seen her, thus he took a step forward wanting to follow her, "Caroline, what happened?" _

"_Let her go boy!" His father yelled and Carline quickly ran out the door weeping._

"_What did you do to her?" He was about to storm towards his father when Elijah and Finn stopped him._

"_Here I was every day hunting werewolves trying to keep my family safe, only to find out I have one hiding in my own home__" His father flipped over the table in front of him in anger and then came rushing towards him._

_He could feel his brothers letting go of him, probably confused, but most probably afraid of what they heard their father call him._

"_Father I am… how did you… Caroline told you?" He was still, feeling betrayed and befuddled, frightened even to look at his father's eyes._

_Mikael slapped him across the face, and he heard his mother scream, "Mikael No! Whatever had happened he is our son!"_

_He was a werewolf thus his father could not scar his face, yet he felt the burn of the deep scars in his soul his father had given him all throughout his life._

"_Our son?" His father laughed wickedly and turned to his mother, "He was never my son! He was your mistake!"_

_His mother's stare fell to the floor._

"_Mother?" Finn questioned his mother's silence._

"_Is it true? Is what Father speaks of true? Am I your mistake?" He could not believe he had not learned of this before, though somewhere in his heart he had always felt he did not belong with them, he would not have ever wished it to be true._

"_Niklaus I am sorry… I was young and…" His mother began to tear up as his father threw a punch at the innocent door unable to control his fury._

_It all made sense to him why his father never loved him, why he was a werewolf; it was all his mother's doing, her fault and her mistake._

"_Niklaus look at me… forgive me…" His mother was trying to find his eyes that was turning away from her, "I am going to make this all right Niklaus, I am going to amend my mistake,"_

"_What is happening? Why does everyone look madder than usual?" Rebekah had walked in with a basket of berries in her hand and she stood staring confused by the scene._

"_It seems as though Niklaus is a werewolf, and seems he is not our father's son" Kol whispered and in return was slapped on the face by his mother._

"_He said nothing wrong mother, what he said was the truth… I am a werewolf, and your mistake," he stared at his parents, his father who was not his father, his mother who had brought him to the world only as a result of her folly._

"_I shall make things right," his mother uttered trying to caress his face._

_He was about to storm off when his father roared, "No one leaves!"_

"_You are not my father anymore! You cannot tell me what to do!" He trembled for it was not the easiest thing to talk back to Mikael._

"_I may not be your father, but you are your mother's son and I do not want to see her despaired because of the one mistake that she had made, so you better listen to me and sit down! Sit down all of you!" He shouted._

"_Nik, please stay!" Bekah was holding onto his hand._

"_Whatever happened you are our brother, no matter what anyone says about anything, please stay Niklaus," Elijah spoke softly as he pat him on his shoulder._

_He may not have belonged there, but he felt he had nowhere, no one else to go to, now that he felt he was betrayed by Caroline as well._

"_Niklaus, stay…" Finn sat him on a chair forcefully, "If mother says she will make things right she will…"_

_They sat wherever they could, in whatever they could find, none wanting to talk anymore._

"_I beg all of you to trust me," his mother walked over to the door, "Do not leave, I shall come back," she looked back one last time before walking out of the hut._

_He waited, with his siblings constantly looking at him as if trying to see if he was truly a werewolf, with Mikael constantly glaring at him as if he would kill him if he saw his bastard son move one inch too much._

_He sat their thinking, about his family, his parents, who his real father may be, and he sat thinking about Caroline. He would not have deemed, however scared she may have been last night that she would ever reveal his secret, the secret she promised never to tell. She was aware of what it meant to him to be a werewolf, he could not understand why she would tell anyone, let alone Mikael. He did do it for her, he killed the man because he saw what he was about to do to her. Thus he felt deceived, he felt it was her fault that everyone stared at him as so, it was her fault he would always be 'Klaus' the monster in everyone's eyes, whatever his siblings may have told him, they would always know he was not entirely human, not one of them._

_The whole village had gone silent, the night had overtaken everything, when his mother returned with Ayana, a woman who his mother had a very close relationship with, a woman who did not normally come out of her own home and walk about the village often. Some people called her a 'witch', but he was not quite sure he believed it to be true._

"_Niklaus, do not worry my son, I will rid you of the werewolf curse and you shall lead a normal life," Ayana uttered, her scrawny hand reaching out and touching his face._

"_I do not wish to live a normal life!" He bellowed, throwing the woman's hand off him._

"_Klaus! You do not get any choice in the matter," His father grunted._

"_No, I do not want to…" He could not continue, he felt his body shudder as Ayana started to chant something in an unknown language. The chants made him numb and drop to the ground. He felt his eyes shut gradually, his heartbeat slow down, and his mind become blank in the midst of his sister's endless crying._

_It may have been hours since he had fallen unconscious, or maybe it have been days, for when he opened his eyes his body felt rigid and felt as if the world around him had changed somehow._

_He sat up and found his brothers and sisters lying unconscious next to him._

"_What has happened?" Elijah was waking up rubbing his head._

"_I do not know…" Kol too had woken up._

_The other two were also stirring and were waking up slowly._

"_Drink this my children, and everything will be fine," His mother was handing them a chalice full of some sort of a deep red liquid, almost the colour of blood._

_He was weak and for some reason felt an unstoppable urge to drink whatever that was in that chalice, thus he greedily took it to his hands and drank a sip and passed it on to the others as instructed by his mother._

"_Now it is complete, now you all are safe from the wolves and Death cannot harm either of you, and you Niklaus, you no longer have to bear the pain of being a werewolf," his mother explained, walking over to Rebekah to check on her._

"_No! That cannot be! That is what I am, a werewolf!" He shouted leaping at his mother._

"_That is who you were Niklaus, now you do not need to worry about all the pain you have to go through when you turn… and I have made sure no wolf, sickness, man or death could ever hurt any of you," his mother explained, her eyes filled with compassion that he had not seen before._

_Yet he did not want to be anything but a werewolf, "No you cannot do this to me," he yelled._

"_What is done is done boy!" his father came into the hut._

_He scurried out pushing his father out of the way, feeling lost.  
_

_He had run off in the way of the stream, to his sanctuary. _

_The sun was still not up; He sat hating his life, hating everything about it and though he could not see much, he liked it for he felt as though he craved the darkness for some reason. _

"_Nik, I thought you will be here and I…" It was Caroline, and he did not want to turn and look at her._

"_Go away Caroline, I do not wish to speak with you," He picked up a rock and threw it at the stream._

"_Niklaus, I do not know if you would believe me, but it was not me that told your father of your secret," Her tentative voice was coming from somewhere close behind._

_He hurriedly turned to her, and grabbed her by her arms, "Do not lie to me Caroline… you were the only one who knew… you were scared of what you saw last night and you told them!" he pulled her closer to him, he felt his body burn in anger and emotions he could not define, "How could you do this, knowing very well, that I killed that man to protect you?"_

"_Niklaus you are hurting me," she wriggled, and he let go learning he had held her too tightly._

"_I did not tell them anything! I do not know how they knew…" Tears filled her gloomy eyes and for the first time in his life however much he hated to see her cry, he did not want to say something soothing and calm her down; he merely let her cry._

"_Why do you not accept it? You betrayed my trust!" His hands grabbed her again, but this time he knew even if she hit him he will not be able to let go of her, for her smell stirred up something unnatural within him._

"_Nik? What is wrong?" Her confused uttering did not even go to his brain, for it was the sound of her heart beating that interested him. He felt something coming over him, and it could not be stopped, for he felt as though he wanted to taste her, her blood. _

_He heard her scream when he bit into her neck and started draining her life out of her._

"_Nik," He heard her mutter, but he could not care less, the lust for her blood was uncontrollable; it was nothing close to what he felt when he was a werewolf; it was actually billion times more intensified. He felt her frame go lifeless in his hands, her voice fade, her heart beat grow fainter._

_Suddenly he feared he had killed her, he had killed Caroline, and he freed her, making her fall._

"_Nik, what did you do to me?" She mumbled and he was relieved that he had not killed her._

_He stayed looking down at her, and put his hand on his chest feeling that his heart that should have been beating at the sight of what he had done, had somehow gone missing._

_She rolled onto the side in pain, "What has become of you?" She put her hand on her neck to know the severity of what he had done,_

_He did not know how to face her, what to tell her. _

_She had betrayed him, but he was not so sure she deserved what he had done to her. _

_However, the longer he kept staring at her, the more the feeling of hatred, and the lust for her blood increased._

_He ran, as fast as possible and faraway as possible from her, for even the memory of the taste of her blood made him feel something other than human, made him feel a hunger he hand not felt before, made him feel something which he could not quite understand._

"Ah I am so hungry for some blood right now," his sister's voice that echoed his thoughts made him jolt into the present.

"It is not far, I can see the gates," Elijah peaked through the window.

The rain had stopped and though it was dark they could now clearly see the old man's mansion. The grandeur of the entrance matched the château itself, it certainly looked majestic.

Two men came running and opened the gates, and the horses galloped their way through the wide path that led to the entrance of the chateau.

Klaus almost kicked the old owner to wake up, "Get up, and invite us in," He compelled him.

Much to the confusion of the very few of his servants that were awake, the old man wearily asked his guests to come in.

As Rebekah glared at the servants, they glared back at the three guests their master had brought out of nowhere.

"We shall rest now, and meet up again for breakfast," Elijah suggested as he walked about looking at the nicely crafted interior of the house.

The old owner ordered his butler in French to arrange bedrooms for his guests.

"I am hungry, Are you not hungry Nik?" Rebekah complained.

"I am," Klaus agreed, but he did not see a possible candidate that he would enjoy sinking his teeth into, he was disappointed for all he could see were two footmen, an old butler and four shabby guards.

"Do not act like a spoilt child Rebekah, we shall see what we can do in the morning," Elijah commanded and followed the butler who had come and informed that their rooms were ready.

The old man too after excusing himself from the rest of his guests, slowly went to his room.

"Nik, say something!" Rebekah pleaded grabbing Klaus's arm.

"Do as you please Rebekah, but make sure you do not make a reputation for yourself in just one night," He whispered to his sister, and went upstairs with one of the footmen that had come to take him to his room.

"A reputation? It is not me who have a problem with reputations, It is you! Everywhere you go you leave a trail of blood for our father to follow us," She shouted and realized the whole of the remaining staff was looking at her, "Thank god none of them seemed to understand English, or I would have had to compel all of them,"

His sister's tantrums made him smile as he walked following the footman.

The footman opened a door for him, to his room.

The old man or whoever designed the house seemed to have exquisite taste, for the room looked marvelous, the bed was the size of a ship, and the wallpaper had a very intricate gold design. He had seen many grand luxurious rooms in his very long vampire life, and the room he was given did not disappoint him the least.

"Shall I take your coat off sir?" The footman to Klaus's astonishment spoke in English.

"So you understand English?" Klaus turned to face him.

"Yes, very well sir… learning English was kind of a hobby when I was young, the master of the house helped me to learn, so may I take your coat sir?" The man reached for his coat.

"No I can do it myself," Klaus took his coat off and he studied the man in front of him, "So does that mean you could understand what we were talking about? Who else in hear can understand English?"

The footman took the coat from Klaus's hand, "Yes, but do not fear sir, we are here to serve you, not to question you in your private matters… and only myself and the master to my knowledge can speak and understand English,"

"What is your name?" Klaus asked as he unbuttoned his cuffs.

"Bernard Sir," He smiled slightly.

"Well Bernard, I need you to do something for me, since you led us to believe that you did not understand any English," He almost growled at the man.

"I did not mean to deceive you sir, I was…" Bernard stepped back fearing Klaus's glare.

"It does not matter, I merely would have asked this of you either way," Klaus smiled as he approached the man.

"What is it that you need sir?" The forty year old so footman trembled somewhat.

"Do you know where I could find a good woman at this time of night?" His sister should not be the only one that should go to bed feeling full, he figured.

Though Bernard did not seem to be the kind of man who very often obliged to such requests, he also did not seem the kind of footman who could say no to his master's guests. Though Klaus could have easily compelled him, he thought he would quite enjoy seeing Bernard give up on his morals just to the sound of his voice, just to make sure the guests are pleased.

"The only women here are the help, and they are at the servant quarters and probably sleeping," Bernard answered nervously.

"So my good man, is there anyone young enough, beautiful enough that you think that would match my taste?" Klaus raised his eyebrow and smiled slyly.

"N.. No sir," Bernard gulped, leading Klaus to believe he was lying.

"Well so much for the old fashion way," He went closer to the terrified man, and began to compel him, "Tell me is there a woman that you think that would match my taste?"

"Yes, there is a very young, new maid that may suit you sir," Bernard was not immune to his compulsion as the rest of the human race.

He did not want to bring the woman to his room and risk Elijah finding out and start lecturing about ethics of being a vampire.

He stared at the footman, "Then take me to her,"

"This way sir," The hypnotized footman opened the door to go out.

"Very well then," Klaus walked after him.

The quarters that were reserved for the helpers were based somewhat afar from the main rooms, in the lower parts of the house.

He went down the stairs along with Bernard. Though it was a part of the same Château that Klaus had a very extravagant bedroom, the service quarters as expected did not have the same excessive detailed exterior design.

Bernard had a key to enter the quarters, "It is the last room to the left Sir," he opened the door and pointed at the long hallway.

"Thank you Bernard, I hope your choice do not disappoint me," Klaus looked at the man and started compelling him, "You will not remember anything I asked you to do, you will not remember what my sister was saying earlier, and you will not remember bringing me here, and from now on, you will not tell anyone about anything you hear or see within the mansion, Now go!"

Bernard as ordered left quietly.

Klaus slowly walked through the corridor, and stopped when he came to the last one at the far end.

Klaus knocked on the poorly built wooden door.

He could hear someone ruffling about the sheets of a bed.

He knocked on the door again and he could hear the footsteps of whoever that was there approaching the door.

He was just about to knock once more, when the door opened, "What is it?" It was the same blue eyes, the same golden hair, and the same lively voice that he had known for centuries.

"Caroline?" He glared, for he could not have ever guessed to find her in the service quarters.

"Niklaus? You… what…" She was ill prepared for the situation as he was for she stood there without even blinking.

"Well, this is a nice surprise, I thought Bernard said there were only he and the old man who could understand English, Have you been deceiving these people Caroline?" He snickered.

She came to her senses and tried to close the door, but he put his hand in before it closed, walked in and closed the door.

She walked backwards and bumped on the edge of the small bed and stopped.

"The way you keep popping up everywhere I go, one may think you are following me," He stood studying her, the way her curves stood out through her night gown.

"Following you? I was here long before you!" She covered herself with a shawl which was lying on the bed.

"Hmm… True… but, what I do not understand is why a vampire as old as me, would spend their time as a mere servant, when they could be living a very lavish life," He moved closer to her leaving only a foot or so of space between them.

"It is called blending in, try it sometime it may help you to evade your father," She spat angrily.

"I much rather be killed by my father, than to be found mingling with peasants," He spat back.

"Did you not come here looking for a peasant to mingle with?" She was as feisty as he last remembered her.

"Well…I had no choice… This place isn't exactly crawling with women, "He got closer, and the space between them was almost nonexistent.

She tried to run around him to the door but he had managed to run faster and stand in front of it.

"Let me go," she growled, her eyes staring madly.

He could not resist the way she looked back at him, he could not resist the smell of her, for the smell of her always got him riled up, "I did come here with the high hopes to drink some blood from a fine young woman, but I guess you would do for the night,"

"You would not dare!" she lifted her arm as if to slap him.

He caught it before it reached his face and forced her inside.

"Why do you have to smell so delightful every time?" His fangs came out and he felt his face transform as he bit into her soft neck.

"I do not think this is something normal for two enemies to be doing," Caroline moaned, and her shawl floated down off of her as she arched her back letting her whole weight fall into his arms.

He let go only to answer her, "We were never quite the normal foes or friends Caroline," and then he bit her again. The memories of his past that had been playing in his mind the whole ride over to the château had made him more eager for her, made him bite her harder, and drink her blood fervently.

"Nik, I do not think this is wise," She moaned loudly.

He released her neck once again, in fear he may have hurt her badly.

As he looked back at her standing so frailly in his arms, he felt the hollowness in his chest begin to fill up with something powerful.

"Nik?" her eyes opened slowly.

"Caroline... I" He could not finish his words for Caroline had sunk her teeth on his neck, and it felt like heaven to him, though he did not believe in it.

He bit back with more vigor, making her tumble onto the bed with him lying on top of her.

He had shared his blood with many a women, but this was different, with her everything always felt different, even the first time he drank her blood, even two centuries ago when they shared blood, it felt completely and maddeningly different and he did not want to stop now and think why.


	5. The Choice

**A/N: **_Thanks again for reading and reviewing... and thanks for everyone who are following this story._**.. **

* * *

**The Choice**

It was as innate as being in his skin for Klaus to have Caroline sleep nuzzling to him, her face resting on his arm as he lay still looking at her.

Though the wound on her neck had already healed her white night gown was completely blood red on the side where he had bitten her. However he thought if it had been his choice the gown would not even be on her anymore and he would have tasted more than just her blood.

Usually other females, be it vampire or human would have begged to have been ravished by him, unable to endure the pleasure the sharing of blood caused, but Caroline had not allowed it to happen, at least not this time. Though he was almost sure he saw the same desperation in her eyes last night, almost provoking her to do the same as the others, as she herself had done couple of centuries ago.

He had not gone to the service quarters merely looking for a source of blood, but also a means to quench his loneliness even if it would have been quenched only for few hours. Though however much he wanted to have her, though he could have compelled her and used her, to do something she would not have done willingly he felt was completely out of the question since it was 'Caroline Archer' after all.

In any case just lying there with Caroline for few minutes he felt his loneliness had faded to the depths of his mind and would not return for years to come.

His hand gently ran on her soft cheek which reminded him of petal of a rose, delicate and changing crimson at his touch even in her sleep.

Her eyes fluttered open and closed, and she huddled even more closely to him. He could feel the tremors caused by her movement run down to his bones.

He closed his eyes, putting his hand around her thinking, whether she would run away as she had done in the past.

He fell into a deep slumber himself, and for the first time in a very long while, there were no horrid visions, no nightmares, nothing that made him wake up disoriented.

It was the somewhat annoying sound of birds chirping outside the window, which made him turn his eyes to the morning light that had crept inside the small servant room. The cold spot next to him let him know that once again Caroline had opted to run off, presumably long before he woke up.

However this time a knowing smile graced him, for he in some way had not expected her to stay for it was the little dance that she had been doing over the centuries, to meet one day and to part the next, and he did not blame her completely for it either, for he was the one a long time ago had made an enemy out of her, and in most part he still considered her to be so.

Yet there were moments he wished he had never accused her of anything, never accused her of ruining his life, ruining his chances of becoming a hybrid, there were moments he thought everything could have been different if they had just made better choices.

A breath escaped him as the memories of the bizarre night in India, the night they met last rushed into him.

_He remembered Elijah was walking by his side, _"_It is a very strange land is it not Niklaus?" Elijah looked about, admiring the marbled designs on the castle, how every little stone was perfectly placed to make up the figures of deities, how the dusty sunlight that snuck inside through the stone carved ventilation holes made the figures look even more divine._

"_It is indeed," He answered Elijah, watching the arched doorways and the carvings on the doors with much interest; the artistry he believed was quite different from what he had seen around Europe._

"_I do hope it is to your liking, Lord Klaus, The Trading Company would very much be disappointed if you were to for some reason decide not to do business with them, So I was asked to provide you with anything that you desire," The tall Englishman in uniform said as he walked in front of them._

"_So far it has been good… Captain Ross was it? Anyway India is not what I expected at all, it is a more intriguing place than I thought," He had travelled to every corner in Europe, Africa and China, in the hopes finding either the moonstone itself or the scroll that contained the whereabouts of the moonstone, written by a meddlesome Bennet witch after stealing it from him some years ago, and now his search had finally brought him to India the 'Land of Mysteries'. _

"_That is good to hear, this way if you may sir…" The Captain pushed open a very large door that was being guarded by two hefty looking men in turbans._

_As he and Elijah entered what looked like a dusty old library, their steps echoed within the large hall._

"_William, you seem to be doing very well I see," Elijah greeted the man who was sitting behind the library desk with a snarky smile. He was not so tall or dashing, and he had an air about him that would lead anyone to believe he did nothing without a hidden agenda._

"_Lord Klaus and Lord Elijah, It is so great to meet the two of you again, Captain you may leave now," William quickly walked over to them, putting on a wider smile._

"_Yes sir," The Captain saluted them and left closing the library doors, confining a hallow silence inside the library with them._

"_So where is the scroll?" His only objective was to find the scroll, thus he was straight to the point, his eyes glared at William ready to compel him._

"_Do not waste your time trying to compel me Lord Klaus, I have enough vervein running in my blood to last me a couple of weeks without being compelled by you, anyway I do not think your sister will approve of you torturing me either," William laughed off his threatening eyes by turning to Elijah who was observing the scene with much suspicion. _

"_Do you not know who you are speaking to?" He had William by his throat before Elijah could say something about the rules and morals a vampire should uphold, when everybody knew a vile creature that drinks human blood and relishes it, was immoral to begin with._

"_I know exactly who you are, and that is why I am sure you would not kill me without finding out where the scroll is, I know how important it is to you," William choked out with a hint of a smile._

_He released his hold on William at last, "So am I to assume you want something in exchange for the scroll?"_

"_Yes, I want my younger brother to be released of your slavery. He has been serving you long enough… and…" William stopped, as if something had crossed his mind suddenly._

"_And?" Elijah had sat on William's chair behind the desk, and was going through his paper work that was scattered all over the desk to the point its fine finish was completely hidden._

"_And..." William began but stopped, his eyes catching Elijah reading his seemingly confidential documents._

"_You do not get more than your brother's freedom, for the scroll… If you wish to bargain more, I can assure you, you will not get it and I am more than willing to wait here for two more weeks to get the truth out of you… the question is can you survive the two weeks of hell I will put you through before I get the answer I need?" He walked around William though he was stalking his pray._

"_I only want my brother's freedom in exchange for the scroll, but I have something else that you may want, and in exchange for that I want your word that you will not ever kill me or my brother, assuming you still believe that a vampire's word is as good as etched in stone," William smiled, and a little bit of fear a bit of shrewdness came across his face._

"_I only need the scroll to find the moonstone…. and then there is the doppelganger who is not born yet, So you either have the moonstone, or something else that I don't need, If you have the moonstone that would mean the scroll is worthless, doesn't it? So in the end, you don't have much to bargain with do you?" He leaned against the wall of books and looked at William as if he pitied him._

"_Oh no, It is not the moonstone or the doppelganger," William boasted about his secret._

"_Come out with it William," Elijah warned getting up from the chair, he seemed to have had enough of the younger vampire who dared to bargain with them._

"_I do have a reputation to uphold, It is not possible for me to tell you or show what I have now, let us not haste things, Why don't you both rest and we will talk about this after dinner, either way the scroll is still on its way and I will only be able to give it to you tomorrow morning," William certainly looked as if he had a trick or two planned for them. For his eyes could not stare directly at either him or his brother._

"_Very well, it has been a long journey after all, Let us go and rest brother and hope that for his sake he will have the scroll by tomorrow and whatever else he says has in his possession is of use for us," Elijah walked over to William and moved his face to him as if to sniff out whatever schemes he may have up his sleeves._

"_You must thank Elijah for having some sense of patience, if not for him you would have been dead by now," He gradually came over and stood next to Elijah and hovered over the five feet or so tall William, "I do not understand what Rebekah saw in you all those years ago to turn you into a vampire,"_

_William dared to smile at his comment, which only made his temper worsen._

"_I hope you know what you are doing?" Elijah stated seeing the way his brother fumed looking at the smaller vampire._

"_I am well aware, Lord Elijah, Well aware," answered William and commanded one of the guards to take the two Original vampires to their rooms._

_They walked within the long decorated floor following the guard. _

_Elijah was given the room next to him, and in truth both the rooms they were given seemed palaces themselves, for they were massive, spacious. The carvings, the furniture everything seemed fitted to a king. _

_Silky, transparent curtains that ran down from the high ceiling gracefully veiled the circular bed that was in the middle of his room. He plummeted into the silk covered bed, exhausted by the endless search that had taken him around the world. Though he quite enjoyed submerging himself in varied cultures and their arts, coming out empty handed every damned time was not something he relished, and this time he was hopeful William would be able to make this trip to India somewhat fruitful._

_William seemed to have been well prepared for everything as there was a finely made pear shaped bottle of blood and a glass placed on the table right next to his bed. He not wanting to get up, simply reached out and grabbed the bottle and started drinking away. _

_The blood to him did not taste human, but vampire, but could not be just any vampire's as it tasted too divine and nostalgic. As the taste of the enigmatic blood hit his tongue it only made him starve for it more and yearn for it more. However much he lusted after the taste he was too greedy to gulp it down quickly thus he took sip by sip, drank little by little, and calculatingly took hours to empty the large bottle. _

_After he poured the last bit of blood onto the tip of his tongue, he tossed the bottle to the floor and it rolled away slowly until it met a wall somewhere._

_He jerked as his ears caught a sharp shriek of a woman resonate inside the palace walls. He sat waiting scanning the room that had with time changed to a dark cave of sorts; his ears were set to catch the uncanny sound once more._

_Yet he could only hear steps of a man walk into his room._

"_Lord Klaus, your dinner has been arranged in the dining hall," one of the guards appeared in front of the bed, holding a lamp, his shadow casted on one of the larger walls behind. _

"_Did you hear something?" He knew it could have merely been his vampire hearing, but he asked the guard nevertheless._

"_No Sir," The guard looked about confused as he may not have heard nothing but the few horses, and the few men that were walking about the castle._

"_Never mind, lead me to the dining hall," He jumped out of bed and spruced himself up a bit and walked outside._

_The castle at night seemed a different place altogether. All around the castle, in every stair, in every window and wall, candles were lit up in stained glass lamps, and as the flames moved to the rhythm of the wind their colours reflected onto the magnificent images drawn upon the walls giving more life to them._

"_Niklaus we were waiting for you," Elijah was already seated on one of the cushions arranged around the very low dining table, with William sitting opposite him._

"_So is it safe to assume that you have killed the King, or should I say the Maharaja of this castle?" He took the head position that was obviously left untouched by Elijah and William for the sole reason they knew it was he who belonged there._

"_As far as people know the king has gone on a pilgrimage," William said in a low voice seeing the few waiters that were bringing them food._

_After placing bazillion of Indian cuisines and delicacies on the table, the waiters bowed walked away. _

_Elijah disapprovingly looked at William, "I thought you had a reputation to uphold, and you did not want anyone to know of your true nature? Killing the king is certainly a fine way of doing that," _

"_Shall we begin then," William ignored Elijah and took a large spoonful of something and splattered it on to his plate. "Did I tell you that your brother Kol may join us sometime tomorrow or tonight? I believe he had gone to conquer the Himalayas," William dug into his plate as if he had not been fed for centuries._

"_Kol? It would be good to see him again, the last I saw him was about half a century ago," Elijah watched William eat in disgust as it seemed even if he had been alive for centuries, he seemed not to have had enough time to learn some manners, for he gulped down the food gluttonously._

_If they were not there, they were sure William would have been eating the spoon along with the food._

"_You seem as if you quite enjoy your food," mocked Elijah as he served some for himself._

"_I love this food," William said with a smile._

"_I say it again, I really do not see why Rebekah liked you so much so that she wanted to give you eternal life," He looked at William quizzically, and Elijah started eating just to hide his laughter._

_William looked quite teed off, "I believe it is called love," _

"_Love?" He laughed looking at William, "Elijah, do you hear this fool? Love is, a vampire's greatest weakness and my sister is very well aware of it and I am sure she did not have any other intentions other than to have a night of fun with you… but even if it was for just one night I am still quite disappointed at her for having such bad taste in men,"_

_William put down his spoon angrily, "I hope you liked the little treat I left at your bed side, Lord Klaus!"_

"_What is he talking about brother?" Elijah turned to him._

_He stood up ignoring Elijah altogether and had William's neck on his clutch within a second, for he feared for something he could not explain, "What was in it?"_

"_Or rather whose blood was it?" William sneered attempting not to look afraid._

"_Tell me before I kill you! I have had enough of this!" He growled holding William by the collar of his coat._

"_Niklaus, you must remember what we came here for, he still has not given us the scroll," Elijah was trying to loosen his clasp._

"_Listen to your brother Lord Klaus, if you want the scroll, you would let me be," William smirked cunningly._

_He eased up at Elijah's words and backed off from William a bit, "Tell me what you are hiding! You either tell me now or I will torture you until you tell me everything. Do not think I would let you go just because I have to deal with my sister later on?" _

"_Can I have your word that you will not harm either me or my brother, if I gave you this?" William glanced back and forth between the two brothers._

_Fuming at the puny little vampire that dared to bargain with whatever secret he was withholding, he confirmed that Elijah and he both would not harm him, "You have our word," He spat unwillingly._

_William threw his napkin on the table, and stood up. "Then follow me my Lords," the younger scoundrel of a vampire seemed very confident about whatever he was hiding. _

_Though the blood William had placed in his room for him to taste gave him some inclination as to what William may have in store for him, he did not want to believe it, until he saw the truth with his own eyes._

_The passageway William took them through was murky and dingy, and it seemed that it was not lighted purposefully to make sure that it was not intruded upon by anyone except for those who were aware of what was hidden down there._

_As they walked farther, the path became narrower and seemed as though they have walked for miles even though they were still inside of the castle. _

"_I would have made her drink vervein, but torturing her seemed more fun…" William pulled out a large old key and halted in front of an enormous door, reveling at the fact he had the two Original vampires intrigued._

"_Here you go," William opened the door, and at first it revealed nothing but darkness. However as they walked in opening the door completely, through the darkness they could make out a figure of someone tied to a wall. _

_The figure squirmed as the dim light coming through the door hit her, "Caroline?" His suspicions were found true for at once he recognized her blue eyes through the darkness as she raised her head gently; it was his once upon a time friend 'Caroline' and she seemed too weak to even keep her head up._

"_What have you done to her?" He shouted at William, and he could hear his own voice bounce with in the walls of the empty room as Elijah shout out something akin to him, but he was too livid to understand any of it. _

"_What? Is this not what you wanted? To see her suffocate? Is she not the reason you are who you are today? Is she not the reason your doppelganger escaped few centuries ago?" William pulled a lever on the wall and gallons of water poured onto Caroline. The sound of her skin seething at the contact of the liquid made it certain that William had poured vervein. _

_William's wretched laugh confirmed his belief further, "Unlike any other place in the world, vervein grows here like grass," _

_He rushed to William and threw him to a wall, while Elijah pushed the lever down._

_He felt his skin stretch and his teeth come out ready to shred William into pieces. "You imbecile what do you think you are doing?" He pulled William back to his feet._

"_Lord Klaus forgive me I thought you would be pleased by all this… I thought you hated her… Please do not kill me… you gave me your word," William walked backwards, looking around for a means of escape. The fear in William's eyes was as if he saw death itself approach him, and his already pale face turned even paler._

_He was about to rip William's heart out when Elijah exclaimed, "Niklaus you did give him your word, let him go!" Elijah was noble but it was one of those times Elijah seemed displeased of being as so. _

"_If you ever do something as dimwitted as this, I would not remember to honor my word! It is up to me to decide her fate, it is not up to you," He threw William at Elijah, and dashed towards Caroline._

_He began to tear off the vervein ropes that had kept her bound to the wall. As soon as they were undone Caroline fell onto him, "Caroline are you alright?" He knew he was not supposed to care about his supposed enemy, he knew he had been loathing her for what had happened to him, but he just could not, not care. He took her into his arms, held her closely to his chest and let her drape her arm around him._

"_Nik," She mumbled as if she was talking in her sleep, she looked broken and not herself. Her cloths torn, her skin burnt by the vervein, they were healing but healing too slowly to his liking. By the looks of it he assumed William had been torturing Caroline for quite a few days._

"_Where's her ring? Give back her ring!" He shouted madly realizing William had taken her ring._

_William took out the ring from his pocket and tentatively handed it to him, "I… I am sorry… My Lord,"_

"_I will deal with you in the morning William, and you better have that scroll ready. Elijah, make sure he does not run away," He swiftly ran through the dim passageway, with the unconscious Caroline hanging onto him. The wind he felt was colder and his room he felt was too far away for every step he took he feared for her frail being. Though however much he knew she could not possibly die, he feared that her closed eyes may not ever open. Even if it was merely to hate her he wanted her to be alive and well._

_He laid her down on his bed, and pulled the silk sheet over her. She let out a whimper and moved her limbs feverishly. She was white as a sheet and she seemed starved for blood, for surely William had deprived her of any sort of food. _

_He put the ring in his hand on the table next to the bed and he gently lifted her head up, and placed his wrist to her mouth._

"_Open your eyes and drink love you would feel much better," He for a fleeting moment felt his whole body tremble seeing her eyes fail to open, "Caroline, please," for a moment, he chose to forget that she had always hindered his attempts to free himself of his curse._

_The head in his hand he could feel getting heavier, he could feel her become weaker, he could no longer endure seeing her so weak, "Caroline Archer, you either open your eyes now, or I would leave, and you would never see me again!" He gritted his teeth and shook her hard._

"_Niklaus Mikaelson, you stop shouting as if I am dying or I will stake you," She murmured and her eyes opened gradually and peered at him as if they were about to eat him alive._

_He felt a smile come upon his lips, "You do know I am no mere vampire, don't you? So staking me would be of no use," His thumb graced her lower lip, and it quivered hungrily._

"_Drink, you need to get your strength back if you want to fight me," He moved his hand closer to her hungry mouth._

_She looked up at him with an air of gratefulness, and bit into his wrist. She moaned coarsely as she sucked his blood eagerly and her eyes naturally shut down as she immersed herself in the taste of his blood that started to run through her veins. _

_He too wanted to taste her. He felt every part of his dead body come alive, his normally un-beating heart shook as if it was about to burst out. _

_The world around him was becoming a blur and all that mattered was she was in his arms, "Caroline," Her name simply escaped him, as his desire to taste her magnified._

_She let his hand go and at once he regretted calling her, for suddenly he was reminded how cold and dead his insides were._

"_Thank you," She stared, her eyes were more alive than a second ago, her skin more vibrant, her voice the same sweet Caroline he used to know._

_He nodded with a smile and placed her head gently on one of the elegantly embroidered pillows._

_As he was about leave, her hand caught his, "Niklaus, stay…" _

_He halted at her touch, her voice. _

"_Nik," She called again and he could not defy her innocent eyes, he knew he could not be compelled, yet by her eyes he was, he believed._

_He crawled under the covers and lay next to her, feeling nervous for he did not know if he would have any control over him, over the lust he felt for her blood._

_She curled up against him, part of her body resting on him._

_He felt his muscles tense up at her scent, and in that instance he had forgotten why he had ever started to hate her._

"_What happens tomorrow Nik? Do we go back to being enemies?" the breaths of her soft whisper seethed on his chest. _

"_It is up to you Caroline, Whatever happens tomorrow it will be your choice…" He let out a breath, as he had passed on the responsibility to her._

_She looked up at him, he was lost for words. For they seem to tell something words just could not and literally he felt it was the moment he had been waiting for centuries. He lifted her chin up to him, and moved his lips closer to hers, letting them linger ever so closely. Her eyes closed in anticipation and his own eyes closed as he laid a soft kiss on her silky lips. Everything about it felt so right, as their contact sent a surge of power to his cold heart and to his brain which went erratic._

_He grudgingly pulled back to see her reaction._

_Her eyes were still closed, her lips trembling, longing for him. _

_He did not keep her waiting; he did not waste a second for he chased her lips and kissed deeply savoring the taste of her mouth as they parted with a moan. _

_Caroline then crawled on top of him, her mouth never leaving his._

_Every cell in his body screamed for her and his arousal become uncontrollable, inevitable, apparent._

_Her nails dug deep into his skin, and as if to retort, he pulled away from her mouth and bit her shoulder, and began to drink her sweet blood, the smell of which that had been mocking him the whole while, his whole life. Her blood did not have the same metallic taste, it was warmer, smoother, tasted just perfect in his tongue, as if it was made just to please him. The affect he had from the few droplets of her blood he had drunk from the bottle few hours ago could not equal to the rush of emotions he felt drinking straight from her veins, as her warm body wriggled on top of him. _

_Centuries ago he would not have been able to control himself, would have feared he may kill her in the process, but now, at that moment he was surer about himself and what he wanted to do for every bone, and muscle in his body reacted to everything she did, to every twist and turn she took as she slithered on him. _

_In a moment he had ripped off the already shredded cloths off of her, revealing her voluptuous curves. _

_He twisted her around and pinned her to the bed, and hovered on top of her. He did not know how or when she had taken care of his clothes as well._

_She was ready for him and he for a while taunted her laying soft kisses all over her without obliging to her pleading eyes and body._

_When finally he went to her, he found it to be bliss, perfection._

_At that moment he believed she had made her choice to be with him, yet in the morning seeing as she was not by his side, and seeing that her ring was gone, it gave him no option but to believe she had actually chosen to be his enemy once more, to believe she had opted to carry on with the roles of 'enemies' they have been playing so well over the centuries once more. _

_He ran out the room looking for her, just to make sure he was not mistaken, to make sure she had truly left._

"_Niklaus, How are you brother? Who are you looking for?" Kol shouted from few yards down the passageway._

_He had no answer to give for he could not understand how he felt about anything. He turned to his room and the room seemed empty and the beauty he once thought it had was completely taken over by something dark and cold._

And as a matter a matter of fact, as he slipped out of his memories and looked at the French bedroom he was in now, suddenly he discovered he felt the same wintery feeling taking over him.

Klaus walked out wanting to escape the eerie ambiance that was eating up the small servant room.

When he reached the foyer, he saw Elijah reading some book very intently.

"You missed breakfast," Elijah complained and nonchalantly turned a page in the book.

"I was busy…" Klaus slouched on to one of the chairs.

The front door opened and closed, and Rebekah was heard bellowing, "Look, who I've found!"

"Don't tell me you found another boy toy to turn into a vampire," Klaus rolled his eyes musing what shenanigans his sister may be up to this time around.

Rebekah came in shouting even more loudly enraged by his brother's words, "I turn one bloody person, because I did not want to live an eternity alone… Because I was foolish just this one time to believe I loved someone, and you keep bugging me with that for a whole eternity?"

Klaus could sense Rebekah's infuriated steps halt right behind him.

He smiled as he began to turn around to look at his little sister, "I am going to bug you with that until you realize that vampires are meant to live alone, because for us love…" He lost his words in his mouth, his brain lost all ability to process anything further, as he fully turned and saw who Rebekah had brought with her.

"Caroline?" Elijah, he could see had stood surprised by the visitor, but unlike Elijah he sat unable to move, unable to blink, unable to think about anything beyond, how red and sullen Caroline's face looked as Rebekah held her, clasping her hands behind.

For a second he was willing to see her, yet his feelings changed seeing how eager Caroline was to run away from them, reminding him that she had left him without a word that morning.

"Here, she had this on her coat. I do not know what it is, but…" Rebekah threw somewhat of a transparent rock at Klaus.

He caught it and took one look, and learned it was the moonstone. Caroline had had it all the while. Klaus could not help but feel betrayed by Caroline once more, he felt disappointed as he looked at her guilty face that tried to do nothing but evade his eyes.

"And you were saying something about vampires, I am so eager to hear the rest of it?" Rebekah eyed Klaus mischievously one of her hands on her hips, the other gripping Caroline's hands, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

Klaus stood up, his fingers sliding over the smooth moonstone that was in his grip and walked closer to the two blondes, his scowling glare falling directly upon Caroline who was still wearing the deep red blood stained night gown from last night under her big coat, "I was saying, us vampires are doomed to be alone, because for us love is just something that holds us back from being what we truly are, 'Monsters'" He made sure his gruff voice reached everyone in the vicinity.

Caroline's vexed face casted his way challenging him, "And that is so bad because?"

Klaus felt his resentment mounting up to his throat at her voice, for she dared to talk back after leaving him not once but twice, "Because we are 'Monsters', and love just weakens you, and gives you nothing in return," As he glared at Caroline eyes, that seemed to loath him as much as ever, the haunting memory of the night they spent together he felt had finally crawled to somewhere place dark and unreachable in his brain.

"Love is supposed to be selfless you are not supposed to expect anything in return," Caroline was still in Rebekah's hold, and if not he felt she would have looked to rip his cold and dead heart out.

Elijah and Rebekah simply stood looking back and forth as if they were mere spectators in a game of fencing.

"Love is only for humans, who are willing to waste the little life they have trying to find that perfect person, that does not exist, just because they want to give meaning to their pathetic existence," He argued, as he took Caroline by her shoulders, his voice thundering about the walls of the château.

"And your existence? You have spent centuries looking for that moonstone, the doppelganger, that could do what? Help you become a bigger monster than you already are? And then what? And then what are you going to do with your life? Is it not just as or even more pathetic? "Caroline was now out of Rebekah's grasp, for Klaus had dragged her unknowingly towards himself.

"Niklaus, that is enough!" Elijah pulled Klaus back, automatically releasing Caroline's shoulders from him.

"Oh here we go again," Rebekah grumbled rolling her eye balls, and plunged herself into a chair.

"And your life is not pathetic? You keep following me, trying to stop me from becoming who I really am? You have wasted centuries on something you should not have. Have you done anything else with your life other than trying to destroy mine and trying to stop me from getting what I want?" He grunted unable to close the gap as Elijah's hand was still holding his forearm lightly as if to remind him he should control his anger.

"Is that truly what you believe I was doing all these years? Trying to destroy your life?" She looked utterly shattered, her face shaded with some lifeless colour making the pain in her dark blue eyes stand out and stare more fiercely at him.

Klaus shook off Elijah's hand and with one rushed step he was on her face once more, "You have not given me anything else to believe in,"

Caroline bowed her head failing to prove otherwise.

He was not ready to retort to her silence, he was expecting her to say something, and he blankly watched her golden curls that blurred his view of her face, as she kept her eyes fixed to the hardwood floor.

"Are you two done?" Rebekah's voice tore the silence.

"No!" Klaus screamed and "Yes," was Caroline's answer.

"Whatever it is you two want to do you can finish it later," Rebekah tossed up something little and green, and caught it back as it fell back to her palm "and do not worry Niklaus I have taken her ring she won't be leaving anytime soon, and I have compelled her so that she does not runaway at night," She wore the ring on her little finger.

Caroline's face was completely evading everyone especially Klaus as he stared with some sort of hopefulness in his brittle face.

"You did what? You should let her go! Give back her ring and she can go back in the morning. We have no right to keep her imprisoned with us… She should stay only if she wants to, seeing that how Niklaus feels about her, I think it is wise she does not stay here," Elijah tried to reason with his sister, yet in some way Klaus did not feel his brother was being all that honest with his reasoning.

"But Elijah… I have not talked to someone, I mean really had a conversation with someone in ages… Can I keep her please?" Rebekah was a master at pulling off the puppy dog eyes look.

"She is not a pet Rebekah," yet it was not easy to provoke Elijah into doing something he did not believe was right.

"Nik? Will you promise that you will not hurt her, so that Elijah won't refuse my request?" Rebekah was now clinging to Klaus's arm pleading him to be on her side on the matter.

He did not know what he wanted to do, yet if it was last night or even a couple of centuries ago he thought he would have answered her question better, "You can do as you please Bekah, but I cannot give you any such promises, and if you do decide to keep her make sure she does not get in my way, otherwise I will not be able to stop myself from…" Klaus turned his back to Caroline, "Putting a stake through her heart," he began to scurry back to his room.

"If you really wanted to kill me I would have been dead ages ago Niklaus," Klaus could clearly hear Caroline mouth behind him as he crawled inside to his room.

He found his solitude to be more irritating than ever, for as he lay on his room looking at the designs on the wall that began to slowly disappear with the fading light, everything that they argued over circled in his head making it seem as the world around him spun billions times faster.

He kept gazing at the moonstone in his hand. What he had been looking for all these years was in his hands and he could not bring himself to feel happy or triumphant about it and he could not stop wondering why.

He deliberately missed lunch as well, thinking he was not much into human food anyway.

However as the night fell, he felt his mouth go dry as he had not tasted anything after drinking Caroline's warm blood last night.

Though he spent his time in his room, time to time he made sure he pried on their conversation. Though it was not much of a conversation since it was Rebekah that did most of the talking, whilst Elijah once in a while asked a question or two, Caroline said nothing more than an awkward 'yes' or 'no'. Obviously it was not as it used to be back in the day where they could gather around a table and talk about Caroline's cooking or if she would make a good wife, for their roles have changed so vastly, though Rebekah did not seemed to care, Caroline was very conscious of the fact she was among those that in some turn of event or the other could turn around and kill her. Her fear caused by uncertainty was apparent even in the one word she spoke.

Caroline's indecision, her reluctance was well justified, for he knew he had not been the greatest of people to be around after he had turned into a vampire, but to his excuse he found it to be her fault he turned out to be the human hating, untrusting, creature he was.

_The night he realized he was not the Niklaus he used to be was darker than any other night, the dimness outside the château could not match to the horrifying gloom that was about to swallow his soul that night as he ran meaninglessly into the forest, where even the wind that blew in his face felt as if it was against him, despised him for what he was, despised him for the way he felt after consuming Caroline's blood._

_He spent days hiding in the woods. At day, he hid in caves where only bats dwelled in, for even a single drop of sun burnt his skin, even a simple glance at the sun made him go blind. Thus it was at night he snuck out of the caves, and tried to fill his unstoppable hunger by hunting innocent animals that never saw their death approach them._

_It may have taken him weeks to gain somewhat control of his urges, or whatever they were and it may have taken him even longer to decide to go back to his village._

_The night he returned, he found the little community had shattered, doors closing at his arrival as cries and laments of men and women hovered in the air. _

_The first spec of life he saw with in the village was a woman who was cradling her dead son in the middle of the village, with his husband trying to calm her down._

"_What has happened to him?" He felt the question itself was ridiculous, for somehow the answer seemed obvious, somehow he knew the bite marks on the young boys neck meant one thing, that he was not the only creature that craved human blood._

"_No! You… You are one of them…Get away from us!" The man dragged his wife away, making her unwillingly drop the young dead one from her hand as she ran inside their hut._

_He bent and examined the pale stiff body. It was not completely cold, for he may not have died that long ago. The blood that had streamed down the two punctures on his neck was still visible, he could smell it, he could almost taste its metallic rust like taste. Human blood smelt ever so different, than the animal blood he had been filling himself with. However depressed he was of the sight before him, he was pleased with his ability control himself of not driving his teeth into him._

_He looked around, he could smell the death that lingered over the village, he saw all the doors to be closed except for one, and it was the Archers'. _

_Caroline was standing on the doorstep._

_He could not read her expression from where he was, but he could see her take a cautious step._

_He felt the urges swarm him again, catching the bleak light that reflected from her blue eyes, catching the sound of her raising heartbeat. His vision fogged and vessels in his cold heart scrunched, and his face changed to the creature he had so desperately being striving to hide from the world._

"_Get in here, Caroline… He is not Niklaus anymore, " His father took her inside and closed the door._

"_But, No… He…" He could hear her break down into tears, and confusedly it just made him ache to taste her more._

_He drove his fingers through his hair, as if to pull them out, the pain of being such a depraved creature was harder to face than death thus he screamed angrily at the heavens. He screamed until he got rid of the beastly urges and the rapacious features, momentarily off of him._

_He saw the path leading to his house, and wanting avenge those who had done this to him he darted that way._

_He banged on the crumbling wooden door of the Mikaelsons' hut._

"_Niklaus where have you been my son? Come in..." His mother took him by both his hands to the inside of her home._

"_What has happened to me mother? What have you done to me?" His mother's hands did not make him feel any better; rather it made him feel as though he had put his hands in a bed of nails._

_He hastily pulled his hands away from her touch._

"_Niklaus I… I am sorry… I did this for your own good… I did not mean to change my children in to monsters, I did not think they would bring about evil to the world, chaos to the village," Her face searched for his forgiveness._

"_Fix this mother, Or I will…" The monster in him was threatening to come out, his humanity he could feel disappear as the hunger he had been hoarding inside began to emerge._

"_It cannot be fixed… there is no cure I know of… " She fell into the chair, her hopeless tears which did not affect him any longer fell down from her cheeks._

"_No… this cannot be…" He had lost control; his hands were on his mother's throat, strangling the life out of her. _

_He could hear her breath fall short, and his hand relaxed a bit, ever so little._

_She amongst the choking breath began to mumble something, a spell by the sound of it. The words grabbed him by his silent heart, and he let her go completely as he fell holding his chest._

"_No! What are you doing to him?" Caroline somehow had come to his aid._

"_Go away Caroline, this has nothing to do with you," His mother persisted, with every word she uttered it got harder for him to endure the pain._

"_No stop!" He felt Caroline's hand on his shoulder, however much he was glad she was there, he hated her even more for it for even through the immense pain, her smell, her touch made him want to let out the monster he was so gruelingly running away from._

"_Go away Caroline," His mother shouted and she had done something to Caroline for he saw her being thrown off to the corner of the room._

_Her cry pierced through his ears and vibrated through his veins and he was up, anger had taken over, lust had taken over, and his mother's spell could no longer hold him back, for he had transpired into the beast that his mother had made him._

"_Niklaus No…" his mother watched the abomination of nature she had spawn take a step forward._

_Caroline was getting up, she was not yet steady, "Niklaus!" she shouted._

_He was determined than ever to get to his mother. _

_Her chants were powerful, he thought his ears may bleed, he felt his inside cringe, yet he resumed._

_Her voice ascended, and he could feel the coldness of death once more shrouding him as he reached his mother._

"_Niklaus!" Caroline cried as he succumbed to the power of the spells again._

_Then miraculously the throbbing pain decreased, and when he opened his eyes he could see Caroline engaged in a huge broil with his mother._

_What came over him, he could not completely decipher, for he had picked up something sharp, may be a knife and had pressed it through his mother's chest._

"_Niklaus" His mother gasped, and crumpled._

"_What have you done?" Caroline tended to his mother._

_He stepped back, remembering how everything was all too reminiscent of what he had done in the woods, what he had done to the man who Tatia was to be married because he hurt Caroline, What he had done to the werewolf hunter that was about to take advantage of Caroline._

"_She's still breathing Niklaus, we need to take her to a healer, may be to that woman, Ayana?" Caroline shook him by the hand, bringing him to reality._

_Yet, his panic stricken eyes, saw only her watering blue orbs, her lips stutter, her body shudder at what he had done, he could sense nothing but her smell, how she smelt like wild roses, how her blood smelt like something so heavenly._

"_Niklaus, can you hear me?" She cupped his face, standing on her toes, so that he could only see her._

_It was too much to handle, he could not hide his urges any longer, and he dove into her neck. It was a feeling beyond lust he felt for her blood, but he just could not give a name to something so powerful. She whaled out a groan, and he strangely enjoyed hearing the sound that came out of her, he enjoyed the life that poured out into his mouth that felt like honey and tasted like ecstasy._

_Memories of his once human life, werewolf life, the life he had had with Caroline, everything started to skulk somewhere, as he finally gave into his new reality._

"_No!" and the realization petrified him, numbed him, he pushed her back and looked at her bleeding neck, she could barely keep her eyes open, keep her head steady._

"_This is your fault! Everything is your fault! I killed my mother because of you, and it is because of you every time I turn into this monster," He was glad whatever creature he was, he now did not have a heart, or else it would have pained him to have said what he said._

"_Niklaus, you do not mean it," She talked in a barely heard whisper, for she was surely in pain._

"_I do mean it Caroline, You told my father of what I was, you broke my promise to stand by me, and because of you I was driven to kill my own mother," As he vented his anger, she was staggered and quiet, "Because of you I am this monster now, a monster that the village fears, a monster just as my brothers, my sister," he accused her._

"_It is not fair Niklaus, you cannot talk to me like this, I have always been by your side, I do not know what you have become, but I will still stand by you even if it kills me, drink every bit of blood in me, because I made a promise to you… because I know you are not to be blamed for what you are," It sound as though she told the truth, but he doubted it, he feared it, he feared what would happen if she was to be by his side, it would either be the end of her, or the end of him, as more closer he was to her the more he felt his humanity fall through his fingers, for the cravings were unbearable when it came to her. _

_Thus he decided they were not to be friends anymore, "From now on, you are to stay away from me, if you crossed path, I do not know what I would do, what your end may be, so this day onwards I am your enemy and you are mine,"_

_She may not have heard him or understood him for her blood drained body collapsed in his arms, and he gently lifted her and placed her on his bed. He glanced back one more time at her before he left her for good, his eyes lingered only for a fraction more, and before his urges got the best of him, made him do something he should not, he ran away._

Caroline's laughter flew into Klaus's ear, and his hands covered his face instantly as he came back to reality. The memories, her being few feet away from him, in the same château as him, just sitting and talking, were playing tricks on him, for he felt things he was not supposed to.

He pushed himself out of bed and wandered to his bathtub, but not even the warm fresh bath could wipe away the mistakes he had done, the affect she had on him.

He changed into something suited for dinner, and put the moonstone in his pocket that lied closest to his dead heart, as he thought it was the safest place where no one would dare put their hand on.

Although the more sensible part of his brain told him to stay put in his room, the lesser sensible part, the one that always made foolish decisions, one that always took control of him told him to join his brother and sister, and Caroline. Thus he went down stairs.

He found them in one of the drawing rooms.

"Oh so you decided to come, I thought you wanted to stay away from my little pet?" Rebekah announced Klaus's arrival, lifting up the almost empty wine glass on her hand.

"Ah, you missed your dinner too, Lord Klaus, shall I ask the kitchen to make you a snack," The old owner was sitting behind the piano, his brother still caught up in a book, his sister was sitting next to Caroline, who had changed into something more appropriate, something that made her look appealing to any man.

Caroline looked at him, and he could not help but scan her head to toe, her perfectly shaped curves he had held last night, he had made his centuries ago.

Klaus was hungry but not for something the old man would have understood, "Never mind," He answered and found a place far away from Caroline, but a one that gave him a very clear view of her.

Caroline glanced at the door, the grandfather clock at the corner, trying to hide herself from him.

"I must say Caroline, for someone who had lived for so many years you are not that smart. Why do you not drink some vervein to make sure you cannot be compelled?" Rebkah leisurely leaned on to the arm of her chair so that she could see Caroline better.

"Do not remind me of that vile taste… anyway, It is not easy to find vervein in this part of the world and for several days I have been drinking some that I had brought here, in case your father showed up but now I have run out of it," Caroline talked casually, with ease as if the few hours she had spent with his brother and sister had helped her get used to the Mikaelsons once more.

"So you were afraid of our father compelling you, but did not think we would ever compel you?" Rebekah's question got the attention of all in the room, even the old man who was compelled himself to not to think much about anything.

"Well, I never suspected you would, but you have changed so much Bekah I should have known, and Finn he doesn't have a reason to, Kol may be… but I have not seen him for centuries and Elijah…" Her eyes shyly ran to Elijah "he would never," she stated.

Klaus could feel for the first time in centuries some sort of a fever, a sickness come over him as he heard her last words, as he saw the way her eyes peeked at his brother, and the way his brother's eyes shied away from her.

"And Niklaus?" Rebekah raised an eye brow and chose to look at Klaus as she waited for Caroline's answer.

"Niklaus…" Caroline lifted her eyes to him and dropped them back quickly, "I think he rather kill me than, compel me," She sighed and Klaus felt his breath get caught up in her words, though he did not need to breath in the first place.

He stared at her endlessly wondering, whether she could still understand him better than he did himself or did she mean something else.

The whole room went silent.

"I mean that is what he wants, is it not? To kill me?" Caroline was playing with her answer, with a sneaky look about her face, her eyes travelling towards Klaus for a second.

"Who knows may be he has compelled you, and done things that you would not have deemed doing with him, he may have used you and you may not even be aware of it," Rebekah poured some wine to her glass noticing she had drained the glass dry.

"Rebekah!" Elijah closed his book loudly only to glare at his sister, for she was aiming to start up some trouble.

Klaus looked at his sister as if he wanted to dagger her, and if not for Elijah's presence he certainly may have.

"I mean… I would not say it is impossible…" Caroline paused, "I mean… I do not think he would be capable of taking any woman to bed without compulsion, let alone me…" Her eyes sparkled from her wit.

Klaus was on his feet, "You? How dare…" It was rare for Klaus to forget words, or lose his train of thought, yet he did at her answer, for how could she have talked as if that on a one strange night on a very strange land, that he did not take her on the bed, and that last night she almost gave in without compulsion.

However, he feared bringing those memories into the open, for if Caroline refused them, his brother and sister would think either he was crazy or he had truly compelled her and he will not hear the end of it from Elijah, for centuries.

May be it was Caroline's plan, to bring him down in his family's eyes, Klaus speculated.

"Ah.. enough of this! Old man, are you going to just sit behind that thing or are you going to play something for us?" Rebekah broke the tension intentionally, for she may have sensed she was about to start something that may run out of control.

"Of course," The man with his tiny freckled hand flipped through few pages on the note book on top of the piano and started playing.

Elijah stuck his head back into his book hiding his furrow behind it, while Rebkah put her glass down and closed her eyes at the relaxing slow sound of the piano, tapping her fingers on the arm of the chair to the beat.

He sat back; even the slow music could not smooth out his rage, seeing how Caroline just sat there, looking at her lapis lazuli ring on Rebekah's finger.

If Caroline had a choice Klaus knew she would just steal the ring and be gone by tomorrow, for that was what she always did.

Rebekah walked over to Elijah, who did not put his book down to even look at her. "Let's dance shall we Elijah? Play something fun old man,"

The man quickly flipped over some more manuscript paper and changed to something faster.

"Elijah, Come dance with me… I know Nik is not in the mood, otherwise I would have asked him," Rebekah pulled Elijah and he with a sigh put the book on his chair and followed Rebekah, his stare somewhat straying towards Caroline.

They danced, mostly Rebekah, Elijah just led her around the floor, his feet barely moved, he was not a bad dancer yet he seemed not be in the mood for it either.

The beat accelerated, Klaus could not take his eyes away from Caroline, and he tried and only he knew how hard he tried. She smelled wonderful as always and he was thankful that she did not look back at him, or else he was not sure what would have come over him.

He too would have wanted to forget their night together in India, where he saved her life and made love, would have given anything to ignore the memory, act as if it did not matter, but he could not, thus how could she talk as if it never happened, as if it was impossible without compulsion when it truly happened without anything of the sort. In human years, a couple of centuries were more than two life times, thus true that it was too long ago, so could it be she truly had forgotten, he mused, could it be she thought nothing of it, she passed it on as just another mistake that she should not waste her time sulking over, he pondered staring at her.

Alas he could not be thankful for long, her eyes shot at him. Even amid the two people dancing in the middle of the room he caught her sea blue eyes watch him.

He unconsciously stood up, and her face turned red and shifted to the side.

He walked over to Rebekah and pulled her away from her dancing, to the corner of the room, leaving Elijah to stupidly stand in the middle of the room.

"What?" Rebekah asked.

Klaus simply showed his opened palm to Rebekah.

"What?" Rebekah acted naïve and as if she did not understand what he was asking for.

"Give it to me!" He forcefully took the ring out of her finger.

He knew Caroline's eyes were surely on him, and on her ring that was now in his possession.

"That is enough dancing for one night," Elijah sat back on the chair, his face confused by Klaus's sudden interjection.

The music continued for the old man would play until he was asked to stop; it was an effect of his compulsion.

"Ah see what you have done? Now I do not have any partner to dance with," Rebekah shoved Klaus and he was thrown to a chair, "Caroline what do you say? Do you want to join me?"

"I think I am going to retire to my room," She adjusted her long flowing dress and stood up.

"It is your fault Niklaus, You killjoy! Why did you need that ring anyway… I would not have let her take it, you should not have worried after it," Rebekah would not let on.

"I have my reasons," Klaus mumbled as Caroline went pass him to the door, glaring at him, the ring in his hand.

"Good night everyone, it seems I shall be here tomorrow as well, if someone doesn't kill me that is," Caroline passed a fiery glance at Klaus and walked out.

"Stop that damn music" Rebekah shouted and the music stopped, "Killjoy," she garbled again looking at her brother, and sat back.

He was not listening to his sister, for he was concentrating on the sound of Caroline's footsteps that faded along the wooden stairs.

"Good night little sister, I think, I am done for the night as well…" His feet were ready to run after Caroline.

"Great I am stuck with these two again!" Rebekah dropped her head back, disappointedly looking at the old man and Elijah.

"Good night Niklaus," At Elijah's adieus he was already out and was searching for Caroline.

He had found her not so far away from the new room she had been given. "Caroline!"

"What do you want?" She spat, turning around.

"It is not what I want… it is what you want…" He stretched his hand out and her palm opened to show her ring.

Her eyes gleamed at the sight, they screamed freedom.

"Take it, Rebekah has only compelled you so that you won't escape at night," Klaus pushed his hand towards her.

"You are really giving it to me? But why?" Her hand reached for it and stopped midway, distrusting him.

"I want you to be gone by tomorrow," He looked at her feet, they were pointed at him.

"You do?" She took a step closer.

"Is it not what you want?" Klaus stepped closer to her as well.

"It... It .. Is it what you want?" She was trying to read him, and he was trying to be as less expressive as possible.

He thought for a moment, he may have wanted her to stay after that one night in India, after last night, but now he said, "Yes… that is what I want," he pondered watching her for another moment, "But… I've decided… we shall not be enemies any longer…" he paused and saw her expression change to utter confusion as he took her left hand, "nor friends, If we are to see each other again we shall turn and go the other way, It is time you stopped trying to prevent me from freeing myself from the curse… and it is time I gave up on… trying to… kill you… Good bye Caroline," He put it on her ring finger.

Her eyes were on her finger, gazing at the ring he had just put on her, "Why do you always get to choose who we are to each other?" Her voice rose at him.

He thought about the night that he thought she would be with him forever, the night seemingly she had forgotten all about, "I have given you many a chances to choose Caroline, more than I should have …" He did not let her escape his stare.

She talked crossly, "When?"

He cannot believe she acted as he never gave her a choice, his voice went lower "This morning… that nigh…"

She cut him off, "This morning? You used me as your blood bag and you think I would stay after that, be your friend again?"

"Do not act as if you did not enjoy drinking my blood, I heard the way you moaned," He went closer to her forcing her to step back.

"It is but a natural reaction, I am a vampire," Her voice seemed afraid by his advances, and she took a step back and was hindered by the wall behind her to go anywhere further.

Trying to stop him from coming any closer, her hand landed on his chest, right above where once long ago his beating heart rested, where the moonstone was now.

"Ha!" a short laugh jumped out of him, "So, you mean you would not mind drinking blood out of any vampire who drinks from you?"

She looked down not wanting to disagree or agree with him, and all the talk of blood, the way her bare neck was exposed as her head bent, had gotten him tangled in the idea of tasting her again. He took a stride and stood almost crushing her. She closed her eyes at the feeling, as if he was about to compel her, kiss her.

"Is this a natural reaction of a vampire too?" A sarcastic smile came about his face seeing her expect something or the other to happen.

Her eyes opened to fire, "No this is!" She slapped him hard on his cheek and ran inside her room, it may have not hurt his cheek as much as it hurt her hand, yet he felt utterly hurt as he glared at her closed door.


	6. The Speakeasy

**A/N: **Thanks for reading and reviewing and following the story I hope you guys like this one... It came out longer than I thought... and** I had a little trouble updating this chapter cos I had accidentally put on track changes on MS Word and when I uploaded it all the changes I had done were also there...** some words were repeated... I think it's ok now.**.. hope if anyone of you sees something wrong odd... like the same line/word repeated again or something ...you'd let me know... Thanx... :)**

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**The Speakeasy**

_1929 AD USA, Chicago…_

"So where's this special person you wanted me to meet? I hope he's nothing like William?" Klaus teased his sister who was very clearly excited about the new young man, a vampire who is roughly eight centuries younger than her, and who according to her had stolen her heart.

"I hate you Nik!" Rebekah got off the car and walked angrily in front, letting her brother follow her to the speakeasy.

"Likewise," He muttered earning a frown from Rebekah before she entered through the well-built and stylish doors of the bar, which at once as they opened revealed nothing but a smoke filled room with chitter chatter, the incandescent bulbs placed on every black and red wall papered wall making the fog of smoke look thicker than it actually was.

As they walked through the haze they could see men and women gathered around tables, sitting in comfortable chairs drinking and laughing out loud about jokes that they would not find to be funny if they were sober or if their minds were not so clouded by the smoke that floated above them.

The band was playing some slow tune, only to add to the background noise for it was neither entertaining those who were listening or the very few who were dancing, nor even those who were playing the wretched tune themselves. The twinkling noise of the large chandelier above their heads Klaus thought had a better rhythm than the music that was being played by the band.

"There he is!" Rebekah almost pranced her way between the little space left amid the chairs and tables, waving at a man with brownish hair, who sat in the corner-most table and waved back in very high spirits.

Klaus walked over, his eyes carefully scanning the man who laid a kiss on Rebekah's cheek and led her to her seat.

"So you must be Klaus, Rebekah's most favourite brother, she has told me a lot about you," The younger one held out his hand, tugging and adjusting his coat from the other.

"Stefan Salvatore I presume?" Klaus shook Stefan's welcoming hand and he measured Stefan's hold as he read his face.

"Oh stop judging the man and sit down! It's been centuries and he still thinks I can't look out for myself," Rebekah complained, yanking Stefan from his coat making him sit beside her.

"Well, dear sister, do you want me to list you of the poor choices you've made in the past? And I must say I don't see anything special in your new choice either," Klaus did not mind sharing his opinion of Rebekah's date as he sat opposite of the couple themselves, who were now sitting with their arms tangled with each other.

"Oh shove off, don't listen to him Stefan," Rebekah took the glass of whisky that was on the table and tipped the fiery drink down her throat and leaned her head against Stefan's shoulder.

"It's perfectly alright, I think it's kind of nice to see that you have an over protective brother," Stefan suddenly seemed lost in his thoughts as he stared at the newly emptied glass that Rebekah had placed in front of him.

"Why do I have the feeling you have some sibling issues of your own?" Klaus looked upon the brooding vampire intrigued by his mood change. There was a sort of loneliness, and a longing in Stefan's face he could almost relate to.

"Who doesn't," Stefan flashed a fake smile and placed a light kiss on Rebekah's hand that had been circling around his cheek.

Klaus matched Stefan's grin and raised his hand and called a waiter to bring them a round of drinks.

"_Someday he'll come along, the man I love…"_ Enthralling voice of a woman singing latched on to Klaus's ears. It was as if he heard a mermaid sing, for he was utterly captivated by it.

The whole atmosphere of the room he felt had abruptly changed, for everyone was quiet and listening to her voice or it just may have been his own brain muting out everything else, however he could not care less about why everything and everyone else seemed nonexistent.

"_And he'll be big and strong, the man I love…"_ She sang, and her sensual voice resonated in his head.

Suddenly Klaus felt zero interest in the conversation he was having, and his head naturally turned to the voice. At first, the glare of the spotlight put upon the woman on stage hit his sensitive vampire eyes, obscuring the image of the woman to whom the voice belonged to.

"_And when he comes my way, I'll do my best to make him stay…" _Her voice continued to mesmerize him as he glared trying to learn who she was.

As the effect of the light died down, Klaus could see her much more clearly. Her eyes he could see were closed as she immersed herself into the emotion of the song. He saw her clearly enough to paint a picture of her every curve perfectly, every strand of hair that lay loose on her shoulders perfectly, but he just stared as if wanting her to open her blue eyes and confirm that it was indeed the same 'Caroline Archer' who used to throw apples at him that was singing, standing in the middle of the stage under the spotlight, wearing the most well fitted white dress in the world that hung from her neck by a mere thread that made her look deliciously gorgeous, undoubtedly to every man sitting there.

"That's Caroline Forbes, she's the friend I was telling you about," Stefan bringing up the name 'Caroline' made Klaus remember he wasn't alone in that table, made him come out of his daze and remember he was trying to gasp for a breath of air that was truly unnecessary.

"That's Caroline Forbes?" Rebekah was heard snickering, "That's not Caroline Forbes, that's Caroline Archer… That's Klaus's Caroline…"

Rebekah's words did not escape Klaus's notice, but he did not know what to say to it, he merely stared at Caroline still waiting for her eyes to open.

"_He'll look at me and smile, I'll understand…"_ Caroline continued, her hips swaying ever so lightly to the beat, one of her hands gliding along the piano she started to lean against.

"Klaus's Caroline? What does that mean? I've never heard her talk about you, I've known her for few decades now and she has said nothing about either one of you," Stefan sounded as if he was suspecting that he was being put up to a prank by someone.

"_And in a little while he'll take my hand, and though it seems absurd_…" Caroline's eyes finally opened, they sparkled blue, her red lipstick painted lips turning into a seductive smile.

Klaus wondered whether she could see him, wondered why he had not known she had such a voice, a one of an angel.

"So she didn't say anything when you mentioned you are seeing someone called Rebekah Mikaelson? I find that hard to believe, well… not really, not after the way Nik had dealt with her… " Rebekah's remarks were disrupting Klaus, and he knew she was trying to get back at him for the comment he passed earlier about William and her choice in men.

"_Know we both won't say a word… Maybe I shall meet him Sunday Maybe Monday, maybe not," _Caroline gracefully walked down the stage and the spotlight followed her. Each step she took, the more her creamy legs peeked through the long slit that ran up to her thigh.

"I didn't tell her your name actually, I told her I met someone special… and I told her I will introduce you to her tonight, that's it," Stefan answered Rebekah, his voice still sounding ever so confused.

Caroline was almost at the middle of the crowd, _"Still I'm sure to meet him one day, Maybe Tuesday will be my good news day…_" Her finger graced the jaw line of one of the young men sitting close to her, but it was Klaus's skin that felt the burn of her touch as his jaw clenched at the sight.

"I didn't know Caroline could sing so well, and she looks so beautiful… look at her… look at all the men who are looking at her, I almost feel jealous," His sister's unnecessary commentary made Klaus wish he had daggered her as he had done to Kol and Finn some years ago.

"_He'll build a little home, just meant for two…"_ Caroline pointed at a man, and Klaus felt as though he wanted to kick that man's slimy face.

"You've got nothing to be jealous about, you are the most beautiful woman I've seen in my life," Stefan whispered.

Rebekah giggled at him, "I said almost…. Anyway, Nik I think you have lot of competition this time around,"

Klaus turned to the annoying couple sitting with him, he had had it, "Oh why don't you two just…" He uttered in a low voice, but he was cut off by Caroline's next verse.

"_From which we'll never roam…"_ There was a little hitch in her voice, no one may have noticed it, but Klaus did, thus he turned around to her swiftly.

"_Who would, would you?"_ Caroline was staring their way. She seemed to have spotted him. Her eyes flashed sapphire rays as they shut and opened continuously in disbelief, it was as if she was sending out a distress code.

Klaus was feeling nervous looking at her dumbfounded eyes, yet he stared endlessly at them.

"_And so all else above I'm waiting for the man I love_…" Hearing Caroline hit the last note as she gazed into him, seeking him out in the darkness, Klaus felt his ever powerful stare weaken.

People clapped, cheered loudly, whistled as the song ended.

Caroline for a moment was standing stoned in the middle of the bar looking at Klaus.

"So what's the deal with them again?" Stefan said to Rebekah's ear.

"She's his… eh… his…" Rebekah was searching for the right term.

The microphone fell out of Caroline's hand, making the whole room fill up with the high pitch squeal that was caused by the feedback loop.

"It's complicated," Klaus stood up robotically, and Caroline just as she noticed him stand, ran out of the club.

Klaus ran after her.

He caught her running through the dark passage behind the bar. "Where do you think you are going Caroline Forbes? It does have a nice ring to it…'Caroline Forbes',"

"Isn't this what I'm supposed to be doing? Turn the other way and leave, if I ever saw you?" Caroline did not turn to him; in fact she started to run in vampire speed seeing that there were no more humans around.

Klaus seized her and slammed her somewhat hard to the nearby wall, "Well that was before… when I thought I had the moonstone with me, before you stole it from my pocket after slapping me across my face!" He barked into her face, as he put both his hands either side of her, blocking her from going anywhere.

She smirked looking straight at him, "You never told me the conditions of our little agreement, and I didn't know it changed depending on who had the moonstone? Or were the condition never explained because that way it's more convenient to change the conditions whenever you please?"

He had not heard anyone talk back to him as so in years and it was not easy to take, especially as the way she looked in that very revealing dress, as the teasing smell of her blood irritated and confused him, "Stop talking or I will forget I said anything of the sort, and tear your heart out,"

Her heated eyes were fixed on him. "So it does seem the rules have changed once again? Are we back to being enemies now?"

He had no answer, and it annoyed him, "Where's my moonstone?" He thrust his fist against the wall behind her, and she closed her eyes as small pieces of bricks fell to her shoulder.

"Do you think after all these years I'm stupid enough to keep it with me?" Her eyes opened again and gleamed wickedly, "I gave it to a Bennet witch for safe keeping, and I don't know what she has done with it… and good luck finding her anytime soon, because she's already dead…"

He grunted, with his fists clenching as if they were about to grapple her by the neck.

"Hey, what do you think you are doing? Let her go!" Stefan pushed Klaus's hands away, and dragged Caroline out of his reach.

"Stefan, you shouldn't get into the middle of it! It's what they do. Let's just go inside!" Rebekah cried from behind, trying to pull Stefan back.

"Are you alright Caroline?" Stefan ran his hand over Caroline's hair and cupped her face to check her expression; it looked as if he did not even hear Rebekah's pleading.

Caroline nodded uneasily, "It's alright Stefan. You really don't have to worry,"

"I think it would be best if you listened to my sister and go, because this clearly doesn't concern you," Klaus watched their interaction closely, he felt almost sickened at the sight of Stefan holding Caroline's face.

"Well actually it does, she's my friend," Stefan pushed Caroline behind him, and Klaus could see her hesitant eyes staring at him behind Stefan's shoulder.

Klaus did not know how to answer the young vampire, for it was something that he used to say, a line that belonged to him, she was supposed to be his friend, his only.

"Come Caroline let's go inside," Stefan took his coat off and put it over Caroline and led her towards the backdoor of the bar.

Klaus simply stood there watching them walk off, with Stefan's hand around Caroline's little waist, her head almost leaning onto him. "Consider yourselves lucky that I decided not to be your enemy years ago Caroline!" He shouted, but did not get a reaction from either of them as they went inside.

"Well isn't this just peachy?" Rebekah said sarcastically and eyed Klaus, "Thanks for ruining my date Nik!"

"It's not my fault Caroline happened to be his friend!" He answered Rebekah's complains in a menacing voice, kicking an empty bottle of champagne that he had found idly lying on the ground.

Rebekah huffed and her irate face turned away from him, and she started to walk back to the speakeasy.

"Where are you going?" Klaus asked seeing that his sister was not ready to go home as him.

"I'm going inside, and I'm going to try and salvage whatever I can out of the rest of the night," Rebekah stopped for a moment, "And it would be great if you just go home Nik, and for once let Caroline be," "Weren't you the one who wanted to keep her as a pet few years ago?" Klaus passed on a sly smirk, which called Rebekah a hypocrite.

"That was before I met Stefan, and realized I can actually love… realized you were wrong Nik, vampires can feel and love… sometimes may be more than even humans can… and now I know what I did was wrong," Rebekah's voice was different, she didn't sound like the vampire Klaus had known for the past few centuries, for she sounded like his human sister.

Rebekah went inside the bar closing the back door with a large bang, leaving Klaus with his thoughts, with the grimness of the cold alley.

Klaus sighed looking at the lonely passage.

With his hands dug deep into his hollow coat pockets he started walking back to his car.

The car was parked right in front of the bar; he turned to look at the building while he opened its door. In his head he could almost see Caroline sitting next to Stefan, and Stefan tending to her every need, he could almost see her gently smile back at Stefan. The image of both of them walking off together in that dark alley suddenly began to circle in his brain like a bad song.

Klaus slammed the door of the car shut and decided to go back into the bar, following what he thought was the sound of Caroline's laughter that seemed to be so enthused by whatever Stefan was doing.

The bar looked a completely different place, sounded a different one all together as the music had changed to something upbeat and people had begun to dance crazily and laugh as madly.

He could barely see through the manic crowd, but he managed to spot Rebekah and Stefan dance happily with wide grins plastered all over their faces. However, there was no sign of Caroline on the hectic dance floor.

Klaus walked into the crowd a bit more and saw her sitting by herself at the same corner booth they were earlier, Stefan's coat still hanging on her shoulders, watching Stefan and Rebekah dance, her fingers timidly playing with each other.

Caroline did not notice him until he was at the table, "What do you want? I thought I told you I don't know what happened to your precious moonstone," She barked without even looking at him.

Klaus slid into the chair opposite of her, unbuttoning his coat, "I just wanted to make sure your so called 'friend' doesn't have any ulterior motives behind seeing my sister,"

"Not everyone is like you," She showed off a mocking smile before she sipped her bourbon, and her face changed bitter at the taste.

"Well that's a given sweetheart. Actually there's no one like me… But if he's anything like you, I don't think he's with her just to steal her heart," Klaus raised his eye brow and slanted his face at her to give her a crooked smirk.

She sneered cynically, and turned her attention back to the dance floor.

It was not easy for Klaus to sit few feet away from Caroline and look at the chaotic dance floor and not look at her and admire her for she was stunning even with Stefan's oversized black coat on her, with her bare neck provoking him to taste her. It would have been difficult task to any man or vampire he mused, so he stared shamelessly.

Caroline turned abruptly and he was caught, but they both did well to ignore the awkward silence that followed the few seconds afterwards.

Caroline focused her eyes on the glass she had once more taken into her hand, and slightly bit her lower lip, "So... you sitting here with me, without trying to kill me… does it mean we've come to a truce?"

"I guess for the time being," He saw her lift her eyes to him at his answer, it confused him. He felt something had gotten caught up in his throat, so he cleared his throat and explained further, "For Rebekah's sake…"

"Yes, and for Stefan's" She seemed pleased with her excuse for she looked as if a great weight had been lifted off of her shoulder and almost looked as though she was smiling with herself.

Her eyes tilted his way again and they uneasily stared at each other before the change in music altered their focus onto the couples who were dancing.

"Care to dance?" Klaus suggested. It was better than the peculiar silence, and uncomfortable glances he thought.

"Just because we decided to sit together, without trying to kill each other for once, doesn't mean I'm ready to dance with you!" Caroline glared at him sharply, smacking the glass on the table.

Her words hit him like an arrow. He gripped an empty glass lying on the table as if he was about to break it into bits. "I was just trying to make conversation… never mind I rather dagger myself than dance with you anyway," He wanted to scream out loud about their little rendezvous in India, but feared she would make something small out of it and act as if it was nothing, just so that she could win the conversation and he was not about to lose to her.

Caroline picked the nearly barren glass into her hand, "Dagger yourself? Like you did to Finn and Kol?" She arched her eye brows and emptied her glass once and for all.

He leaned over the table slightly and caught her hand that held the glass. "How did you know that?" He said in an angry hushed voice, his eyes carefully skimming for his sister, hoping she was too busy with her dance partner to give her ear to their conversation.

Caroline pulled her hand back, leaving him only the empty glass to hold on to, "I have my sources," Her focus fell back to the dance.

"If you tell any of this to…" Klaus halted his words and rested back into his chair seeing the happy couple approach them.

"I see you've decided to join us again," Rebekah sat with a frown, fixing her dress as if it was liable for her annoyance.

"Are you alright Caroline?" Stefan sat right beside Caroline possibly understanding the monster in front of Caroline was responsible for her rather irked expression.

"I'm getting a little dizzy just sitting here, Shall we dance? If Rebekah doesn't mind of course," Caroline looked for Rebekah's approval.

"By all means," Rebekah's mocking eyes Klaus could sense glancing his way.

"Shall we then," Stefan stood up and asked for Caroline's hand, bowing his head.

She dropped the coat that had been hanging onto her and got up lending her hand. After pecking her hand with his lips, Stefan took Caroline away to the dance floor. Klaus ogled at Caroline as she walked away, and how just enough of her silky gold curls dropped onto her deeply cut back that he considered to be too revealing, even for the modern times.

The music changed once more to something slow and sultry. Klaus looked on as Stefan put his left hand on the bare skin of Caroline's back, while the other held her hand as he began to sway to the music.

"Someone's looking rather green," Rebekah muttered under her breath.

"Did you catch your reflection on a mirror somewhere?" Klaus grinned sarcastically back at his sister turning away from her somewhat so that he could more easily observe Stefan and Caroline dance.

"So, you mean to say you're not even a tiny bit jealous?" Rebekah lay back onto her chair, and drank the glass of bourbon she had left on the table earlier and kept trying to read his face.

"Why would I be? She means nothing to me," His face was yet glued to the very woman that supposedly meant nothing to him.

"Oh?" His sister that knew no bound was heard doubting him, and he could almost feel her mischievous eyes gazing at his face, with her lips molded into a perfect 'O'.

"Actually it's you that I'm worried about, putting yourself out there to be hurt again. Just look at the way he's holding her… He definitely has more than friendly feelings towards her," Klaus watched as Caroline's eyes vanished behind Stefan as he turned her around.

"They are just friends," Rebekah laughed at the suggestion, it seemed she had not even considered the possibility.

Stefan said something into Caroline's ear, Klaus figured at first it to be something too stupid to possibly to have eavesdropped on, but whatever dumb joke it was it made Caroline giggle, and Klaus began to suspect they were mocking him, laughing at him. "See the way they are laughing with each other, they are not just friends," He turned to his sister only to make sure her eyes were directed at the same unsettling scenery his eyes were ogling.

"Didn't you just say you are not jealous?" Rebekah was staring at him pitifully, drinking some more bourbon.

"I'm not!" He grabbed a glass of something from a waiter who was passing by and gulped it down, leaving only the ice cubes to clink together as he put the glass down. The alcohol burnt his inside for a second helping him to ignore the soreness he had been feeling in his gut for a long while.

Rebekah's eyes rolled as she shook her head disagreeing, "Right," She mocked.

His face tightened at the sight of his sister who did not seem to believe his assumptions. "Mark my words little sister, he's going to end up breaking your heart,"

She adjusted herself on the seat as she kept her judgmental stare on him, "If you say so Nik, but I think you're just being a jealous little troll,"

"Allow me to prove my point," Klaus got up instantly and buttoned his coat.

Rebekah held his arm and stopped him, "And how are you going to do that Nik?" Her eyes were already imagining his failure.

He loosened Rebekah's fingers from his arm, "I'm going to cut in, and you can look at his expression and judge for yourself,"

"So that's why you really want to cut in? Because you are so concerned about me?" She was scrutinizing his every expression.

"Of course, aren't I always?" Klaus passed an arrogant smile and pursued his target that was dancing in the middle of the room unaware of the storm that was about to hit them.

"Not so much, no!" Rebekah shouted at him with a laugh.

He turned around, "May be I just like to prove that I'm right,"

"Good luck getting Caroline to agree to dance with you!" Klaus could hear his sister chuckle amidst the music.

He winked at her, and showed his smug face before he continued to walk in the direction where Caroline was.

They hardly noted him standing there as they were too engrossed in whatever they were so happy about, "May I," Klaus was being as gentlemanly as a man could.

They stopped moving and stared at him as if they saw the foulest creature on earth standing by them. Something came over Stefan's eyes, a deep worry of sorts, "I don't think so, not after the way you were talking to her a while ago,"

From a far Klaus could see Rebekah listening in on the conversation and laugh at him, thus he roared in a low voice, "I can threaten to kill you, or actually kill you, if that what it takes,"

Stefan smirked; he truly didn't seem to know what an Original vampire like him was capable of, "You would do that just for one dance?" Stefan asked.

Caroline turned Stefan's face to her by his chin, "It's alright Stefan. I'll be alright,"

Klaus knew he would some way or the other persuade Caroline to dance with him, but he didn't think it would be that easy, thus he looked at her somewhat surprised.

"But… Caroline…" Stefan did not seem convinced for he turned his face away from Caroline and glared back at Klaus with a creased forehead.

"Listen to the lady Stefan. Like you said it's just one dance anyway. What do you think I would do in the middle of this crowd?" Klaus put his hand on Stefan's back, gently patting him as if asking him to admit defeat and leave.

Stefan tossed Klaus's hand off of him at once, "Are you sure?" He bent his head down to examine Caroline's eyes.

"Hmmm" Caroline nodded softly, her eyes trying to evade him for surely she did not look all that confident about her decision.

With one more aggressive glare at Klaus, which Klaus ignored completely, Stefan walked away turning his head more than once to check on Caroline.

Klaus took Caroline by her right hand and spun her around and pulled her to him, but she was aware of herself enough to stop herself from crashing into him. He put his other hand on her smooth opened back, and he could feel his fingers flicker at the sense, as her eyes fluttered and cast down at his touch.

"And here I thought you would rather be daggered than dance with me. Did you feel left out? Or may be jealous?" She raised her eyes a little, keeping her eye lids smartly placed so that her eyes were never fully revealed.

"Don't flatter yourself too much love, I'm just here to prove a point," Klaus pointed at Stefan with his head.

Caroline promptly looked back at the couple sitting in the corner, Stefan with doubt filled eyes and Rebekah staring enraged at Stefan, "What point?" Caroline asked with a crumpled face.

"You'll see," Klaus moved closer to her, making sure there was no gap between their bodies, "And may I ask, what made you change your mind and agree to dance with me other than me threatening to kill Stefan, your 'oh so close friend'?"

He could feel her struggle a bit to gain some distance, "I would've felt bad turning you down in front of all these people, because unlike you I do think about how my actions can cause pain to others?" She spat with a sort of an evil smile.

"So you were worried about causing me pain?" He found something to be happy about in her words and he spun her around and dipped her leaning into her with his face hovering inches above hers.

She shifted her head sideways so that their eyes nor lips would meet, "You don't flatter yourself either Niklaus, I was merely implying I have a conscience that wouldn't let me sleep at night that if I did something wrong by anyone, not just you,"

With his eyes still on her ranting red lips, he pulled her back up and twirled her around.

Then he drew her by the hand with much passion. She stopped with her torso perfectly aligned with his, her lips just as perfectly lined up for a kiss. Klaus could do nothing but let his lips linger towards her engaging lips that were mocking him from just few millimeters away. His hand with a mind of its own was sliding down the small of her back. Her eyes too he felt linger down to his mouth with similar intentions as her hands tensed on his muscles.

Some left footed, uncoordinated couple on the dance floor, bumped into Caroline from behind and Caroline's head crashed into his chest planting her lips accidently on his white shirt, marking it with a lipstick stain.

She jolted her head back and looked up at him utterly worried, "Sorry," She started to manically smear off the lipstick mark with her thumb.

He found it very endearing of her to worry over something as trivial as a shirt when they had gone through much worse things and had faced bigger problems. He delicately took her frantic hand away from the mark, "It's fine," He quietly whispered into her ear.

Her eyes fluttered at him for a moment, "Uhm shall we then go back to our seats," Her hands gently slipped out of his hold.

He nodded and looked back at Stefan and Rebekah, "Yes of course, I think I've proved my point anyway," He saw Stefan's glare almost trying to burn down the place, it could have been the haze of cigar smoke for it made Stefan look like a mad bull puffing out smoke.

They walked back to their booth, with much distance kept between them, Caroline's eyes peeking at Klaus once and his eyes constantly gazing at her.

"You seemed to have had a good time?" Stefan watched them arrive with spite filled eyes.

"Yes… No… We.. just…" Caroline glanced sneakily back at Klaus, it seemed as if she felt guilty about admitting to the fact that Stefan was right.

"Let's have some more fun shall we?" Rebekah stormed off, her eyes gleaming with all sorts of wickedness. It seemed her jealousy had gotten the best of her, it seemed all that talk about starting to see things in a different light had been forgotten, for Rebekah was back to being her old vampire self.

"Where's she going?" Caroline took the seat opposite of Stefan.

"Who knows what diabolical plan my sister may have?" Klaus had no choice but to sit with Stefan, for one he thought Caroline would not have liked to have him in such close proximity, the other sitting opposite her gave him a much better chance of catching her expressions that she kept trying to hide.

"Well… she is your sister," Caroline showed her perfect teeth teasingly.

Klaus mimicked her expression.

Stefan searched for Rebekah and stared bothered as he looked over his shoulder, "Is she compelling that woman to give us her blood?" Stefan didn't look too good, his face started to scrunch and he was holding onto his stomach as if he was about to throw up.

Klaus too looked around and saw Rebekah saying something to a young woman in the other corner of the room. "It seems so, why do you look so worried all of a sudden?"

Caroline stood up, "No, we have to go! Stefan can't handle human blood,"

Klaus looked at Stefan's pathetic face and sniffed arrogantly, "Isn't he a vampire, what vampire in the world can't handle human blood?" He knew once upon a time he would have considered himself belonging to a similar category as Stefan, but the difference was then he could not handle only Caroline's blood, not all human blood. In fact it was the need to forget about the taste of her blood that had made him constantly seek human blood; it was when the memory of her smell pestered him he would seek out human blood. At first he would feel guilty for what he was doing but as time went on it became a routine, drinking human blood became as easy as drinking water, although his craving for her still remained the same.

"I can't control myself. Caroline has been helping me control my urges," Stefan's eyes seemed to have become bloodshot with the mere mention of human blood.

"Oh has she now? But I see you haven't been doing a very good job of it?" Klaus looked up at Caroline who was waiting for Stefan to come with her.

Caroline seemed rather nervous, she kept trying to drag Stefan by the hand while her eyes looked out for Rebekah, "He's still learning to control himself, I've put him on an animal diet for now,"

"No wonder he looks so pale and weak," Klaus could not help but smile at the weak little vampire that was seated next to him.

"Here, let the good times begin!" Rebekah casually bit the wrist of the young woman who she had brought along, and not worrying one bit about the already drunk crowd at the bar noticing anything, she threw the compelled soul into a seat.

"Let's go Stefan, you shouldn't be here," Caroline dragged Stefan by his hand and he willingly stood up to leave.

"Wait! Where do you think you are taking him?" Rebekah broke Caroline's tight grip on her date.

"Apparently your boyfriend can't take a bit of human blood," Klaus sneered, sitting in the middle of it all.

"I'm sorry Rebekah. I have to go," Stefan's face started to change, and he struggled to hold his composure as he started to fidget and sweat uncontrollably.

"He needs to learn to control his urges," Caroline explained as she tried to reach for Stefan's hand once more, holding a strong glare towards Rebekah who seemed not to care about any of what Caroline was saying.

"So I will teach him Caroline, you don't have to worry about it from now on," Rebekah pushed Caroline back, and pulled Klaus out of his seat and sat next to Stefan, getting him back down to sit with her.

Klaus rolled his eyes at Rebekah who had taken his place, "I see that you've gotten the point I was trying to prove,"

"No you don't understand!" Caroline's eyes were begging, looking at Rebekah who was staring at Klaus with disgust.

"I understand perfectly, who better to teach him than us?" Rebekah put one of her hands over Stefan as the other drew shapes on his face, "Drink darling. I'll help you. I assure you I'm more than capable of taking care of you than her,"

"Stefan!" Caroline was glaring madly.

"I have to go Rebekah! Caroline has been helping me for a long time now. She knows what to do," Stefan tried to stand up again hiding his face inside his shoulder, trying hard not to catch a glimpse of the blood on the girl's wrist.

Rebekah was determined to keep him seated for she used all her strength to prevent Stefan from moving even a bit.

"My, my trouble in paradise? Isn't this just a fun night?" Klaus slid into the seat next to the young woman and licked the blood that had started to drip down her fingers, his eyes wandering towards Stefan, as if to taunt him.

Both the blondes sharply turned at Klaus, their glares were so severe it seemed it could almost slit his throat, yet he smiled in response, "Continue on with your little drama sweethearts, don't mind me,"

Caroline sighed out an exhausted breath and turned to Stefan.

Rebekah entangled her fingers with Stefan's hand and placed it over her cold heart, her eyes staring at Stefan as if they were trying to bring out his tortured soul to life. "You either stay here with me today or go with her and never see me again," Rebekah gave Stefan an ultimatum.

His confused stare went between the blondes, one his friend and the other the woman he thought he loved. For a second Klaus felt for the young man, for he could understand how much of a difficult choice it was to make, especially since the friend in concern was someone like Caroline.

"Caroline, I'm sorry I think… I… I will stay," Stefan's cowardly stare fell down to the carpeted floor.

"Don't do this Bekah, you don't know what you are starting," Caroline seemed as though she was about to cry as she crossed her hands around her midriff as if she had felt a cold wind gushing through the packed bar.

Klaus felt his brain shake within his skull as he gazed at Caroline stand so helplessly in front of them. As his eyes roamed around her face trying to read every wrinkle of worry, he felt a weakling himself for even though he was more than nine centuries old he was unequipped and afraid to handle the emotions he felt looking at her.

"Are you going to shut up and sit with us or leave?" Rebekah growled, her vampire face hadn't come out but her expressions looked more monstrous even without her teeth out.

"Stefan?" Caroline looked at him softly, the tears in her eyes reflecting the lights in the bar making them look damaged.

Klaus could not understand what he was feeling; in one hand he was happy poor Stefan had decided to stay with his sister and let go of Caroline, on the other hand he felt like biting Stefan's stupid little head off for making Caroline beg as so. Klaus sat trying to find a relaxing position on his seat with his arms crossed trying to sort out what was going on in his own head.

"I'm sorry Caroline…" Stefan uttered with a tone to match Caroline's, with eyes and expression that reflected hers.

"Whatever happens remember it's going to be your fault!" Caroline glowered at the two siblings.

"Good bye Caroline," Rebekah waved her hand with a proud snort.

Klaus found the speed in which his sister had changed to be very much like him, for his own moods too were known to change rapidly as wind changed direction. He watched Caroline walk out through the crowd, bumping into strangers and tables for her vision may have been blurred by the tears she kept bound in her eyes.

Klaus turned to Stefan and Rebekah. Stefan had latched onto the young woman's wrist and had started to drink her blood as soon as Caroline was gone. Stefan's lust for human blood, made him hold onto the puny human greedily. Klaus knew the feeling, he could understand it, but the only moments he found himself feeling so desirous about someone's blood was when he was tasting Caroline's he believed.

Something within him made him stand up, he looked down at the two people arguably in love, he looked at the door where Caroline was seen disappear behind and decided to go after her.

When Klaus opened the door that he thought would lead him out of the crowded bar and to Caroline, he was more than disappointed to learn that Caroline had already vanished. He could only see few humans strolling around front of the car park, some drunk, some on their way to getting drunk.

He had lost her once again, he thought as he stared at the mist that rose out of the circular vent in the middle of the street that began to almost materialize itself into the shape of her as if to affront his already wounded mind.

"Get out of here before I kill you!" He heard Caroline's voice out of nowhere. At first he was not quite sure if it was purely his imagination, but he heard her once more, "Try to touch me again, and I will break your hand!"

Klaus ran in the direction where her voice came from.

About a block away from the speakeasy, behind some old building, he found her. Caroline was holding a drunkard by his collar.

She had pushed the man against some kind of a pipe and it had broken, spraying water all over him.

"Trying to take your anger out on the poor man?" Klaus stepped towards her, his shoes making little splash noises as they hit against the wet ground.

"Go! Now! And you shall never touch any woman again," Caroline compelled the man and let him go.

The man ran without turning back, slipping once and again missing his footing on the damp floor.

"That's a little bit harsh… don't you think love?" Klaus stopped as if to admire her figure, looking at the lines of her body that was clearly visible from the street light that drooped from somewhere far behind her.

"What do you want now? Done turning my friend into one of you?" Caroline came to him, one fist ready to take him, while the other hand held her hip.

"He had always been a one of us love, it's you who had been trying to turn him into something else," He circled around her admiring her tenacity as always to believe she could talk to him like that and he would just stay quiet. He watched as the bit of water that had gotten into her hair from her previous encounter, glide down her curls and land on her shoulders as she looked around for him twirling in one spot.

"But he can't control himself, he becomes another person, he becomes a ripper," She shuddered.

Klaus raised his eyes to meet her angered face, not quite willing to believe the soft talking and gentle looking vampire who was teaching his sister about love could become such a vile thing, "You mean like my old friend Jack? whom I had the pleasure of tearing out the liver of?"

"Yes," Caroline's eyes widened, "We shouldn't let Rebekah turn him again," Her hands came to cling onto his arm, but half way through she decided not to and put them down immediately.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, I don't think suppressing his urges would do him any good," He should know, for he had tried, in the early days of being a vampire.

Her veins emerged through her glowing red skin as she grunted annoyed and turned to leave.

"Caroline," He took a step to follow her but stopped not sure what he should say if she turned.

She stopped in her tracks "What do you want now?"

"I… I.. wish that you could stay," It just came out of him, he didn't have time to consider why he would ask her, why he was willing to forget that she had left him after that wonderful night he spent with her in India, why he was willing to forget that it was because of her, his moonstone and the doppelganger had slipped out of his hands.

"And do what? Watch you two drag my friend into his demise?" She turned on her heal, "Neither you or Rebekah know him like I do,"

"Apparently you seem to know more than you should know about someone who's just your friend," He shouted at her fading back, he could still catch the glitter in her dress sparkle even in the darkness.

Caroline stopped as if he had shot her with a bullet from behind, "May be he is more than just a friend…" She said with spite and turned around hesitantly, the long slit in her dress revealing her lean legs as she stood few feet in front, her eyes hidden by the shadow of the fire escape on top of her.

Klaus's feet were taking him to her, why or to do what he couldn't comprehend.

As he got closer, her fuming eyes were slowly revealed to him, they were fired up by his accusation of Stefan being more than a just a friend to her.

He only needed one more step to reach her, and as he was about to take that one step, a speeding blur of a woman crossed his path and gave something to Caroline. The figure turned to him, and passed an eerie smile, her dark hair flowing as she turned back and left.

It was the doppelganger.

"Isn't that?" He stayed there watching the brunette run off, as it seemed the woman was a vampire not the human doppelganger he needed to break the curse.

"Don't worry it's not your new doppelganger. It's Katherina… She's working with me, and if you tried to do anything to her, I will…" Caroline opened the little note the brunette had given her, "I have to go…" She once again turned to the shadows.

"I say this because once upon a time we used to be friends… Don't ever completely trust that woman… She's not the kind of friend you should keep," Klaus caught Caroline by her small shoulders.

Caroline laughed as he twirled her around to see him, "And you are the one to talk about friendship and trust?"

He smirked taking her face to his hands, squishing her blushing cheeks so that she stood with her red lips pursed. "I just thought I warn you since I no longer consider you to be a threat or an enemy, I don't care if you take my advice or not," He drove his face closer as if he wanted to take her lips to his own.

She fought to get away as he closed his eyes reaching for her lips, "Goodbye, Niklaus… take care of my friend, Don't try to follow me," She finally had thrust him back and had disappeared, leaving his lips to kiss the cold breeze that gushed as she moved.

He looked down at the mark her lips had left on his shirt, his face he could feel light up, feel a warmth in his skin he had not felt for a long time, for he knew it was not the last he would see of her, for they keep bumping into each other in the most oddest and sometimes the most unhealthy circumstances , and he was sure he would have another chance to continue their little battle cum dance, "Until we meet again sweetheart," As he shouted to the nothingness that surrounded him he realized that he did not think of her the same way he did centuries ago, he did not any longer think of her as the enemy she had so desperately pretended to be anymore, he could not hate her as he did when he was a young vampire anymore. Maybe, just maybe he thought, it was not hatred after all that he had felt even then.

_He remembered that night, long ago, when he thought he was meeting her for the very last time; the night he thought he was having his last conversation with her. _

_It had been seven moons since he had left his village, seven moons since he had killed his mother and thought he had left Caroline for good._

_He had been living in the forest with Elijah and Rebekah hiding from the world. Finn had run away with Sage who he had turned into a vampire. Kol was somewhere possibly scaring the life out of people causing havoc everywhere he went._

_While Elijah and Rebekah had set out to find themselves food, he was sitting in the small cave which they had made their temporary home, drinking blood out of a defenseless deer when he heard a noise; footsteps, paws crashing against the wet leafy floor of the forest, howls that gave out an unnerving feel._

_He caught a familiar; a much tantalizing smell which made him put down his dinner and come out of the small opening of the dark cave that was hidden beneath the whines and branches._

_He saw someone run in the full moon light, and not so long after he saw a pack of wolves following the figure. _

_He hurriedly went after the pack. _

_Before He got to them he could see the wolves had already managed to surround their prey. _

_He stopped and watched from the safety of the bushes that lay few yards away, for there were too many wolves for him to get close to the scene without a proper plan._

_Within a second he realized the uncanny scent belonged to none other than Caroline, the uncanny voice was hers. "Get away from me," She picked up a large branch and swung at the wolves, the sullen creatures didn't even flinch when the branch moved over their heads._

_Caroline had something on her back, something heavy that she seemed to be trying to protect from the wolves._

_Seeing that one of the wolves was aiming to pounce he stood up to get to the pack, but before he reached them, Caroline had already hit the wolf on the head hard, making him crawl into a corner._

_He could see the others back down a bit, possibly changing their approach, not because they were afraid but it seemed they wanted whatever that was on her back unharmed as much as she did. _

_He stayed back waiting for the right moment, watching curiously. He had learned from Ayana that it was not only the sun nor not only the white oak stake that could kill a vampire but also a bite of a werewolf, though she was not sure how it would affect him, as he was half werewolf he had been warned not to mess with the canines. _

_Caroline somehow jumped up and reached out to one of the high branches and hung the sack she had been carrying on the branch, "If you want it, come and get it," She held the piece of wood in her hand with much determination, waiting for the wolves to come for her. As she rocked back and forth on her very cautious feet, her fingers locked and unlocked themselves against the branch, only to lock the branch again in her palms more securely. _

_The biggest one of the pack howled, and gave his command to start attacking._

_Realizing it was now or never, without thinking what a wolf bite could do to a vampire like him, he jumped out of the bushes and into the middle of the pack and got the attention of the wolves._

"_Niklaus!" He heard her scream before two wolves jumped on her, as the rest of them surrounded him._

_He threw one wolf after the other into trees, and pulled out the hearts of some._

_There were three more left, which had started to back down, yet there were two more that still relentlessly attacked Caroline._

_He didn't know what sound came out of him, but he growled looking at the wolves straight in the eyes. _

_The other two who had been ripping apart Caroline too started to back down at his roar._

_He growled once more and they ran off and he could hear them howl from somewhat afar._

_He turned to Caroline, she was covered in blood, and her heart was barely beating._

_He was scared to get any closer for the sight and the smell was overwhelmingly inviting._

"_Come to say your good byes Niklaus?" She tried to lift her head to look at him, but it fell backwards._

_He looked down at her, her dying body, the dwindling colour in her eyes, the red that covered her wounded body making him loath himself for what he craved. _

_The sack that hung on the tree suddenly started to move, something within it was wriggling. _

_A shriek of a baby silenced all other noises in the forest._

_He took the sack into his hands and opened it, "What were you doing in the forest with this little thing Caroline?"_

"_Fulfilling… a… promise," It sounded as though Caroline was taking her last breaths._

_Though he had learnt vampire blood can be used for healing, he did not believe he would have enough control to keep himself from drinking her blood and ultimately killing her in the process, to actually get close enough to feed her his own. Either way, he was supposed to hate her, not heal her he reminded himself._

_He looked at the little one, a girl by the looks of it. The child kept staring at him with her innocent big brown eyes; it reminded him of a pair of brown eyes he had seen not long ago. It cannot be he thought. Why Caroline would be smuggling off 'her' daughter, Tatia's daughter on a full moon night through a jungle, he wondered._

_Caroline gasped heavily; he looked down at her once more, his once best friend, now just the woman who betrayed him and the one that kept driving him to madness whenever he was close to her. _

_He hung the sack carefully back on the tree and bent down to face Caroline, and held her head up. Instantly his face changed and his teeth came out as the strong stench of her blood played with his senses, as the dying heat that radiated out of her, hit his skin._

"_Are you… going to kill me?" She could barely get the words out, her lips trembled._

_He could feel her shivering in his arms, her body losing its warmth every second that passed._

_He put his wrist over her mouth, "Drink, bite into it,"_

_Her droopy eyes gazed, "Why?"_

"_I need to fulfill a promise…So, Drink Now!" He demanded, his vision was now completely changed as his eyes had changed colour, he could only make out the crystal blue orbs of her tired eyes and the blood that she was soaked in._

_She weakly bit into his arm at his voice without actually knowing why._

_He could feel a rush of passion run up his arm as she began to sink her teeth harder into his skin, as she began to drink away his blood groaning at the sensation._

_He could not help it any longer the verve he felt as her teeth drove deeper into his wrist was not in any way letting him forget how much he lusted after her blood, in fact it made the need grow; the thirst became irrepressible._

_He pulled her to him and bit into her neck. He heard her moan loudly, his mind was too clouded by his own desires to stop and realize whether she was moaning in pain or pleasure or both. _

_The moment the perfect taste of her started to run through his veins he believed he was alive, for his head buzzed and his chest jolted within his cold body._

_He kept suckling into her flesh, as his grip on her got tighter, he held her closer to him than he had ever before._

_Suddenly, he felt her go numb in his hands, her body become completely cold, and her teeth he felt loosen its hold on his wrist._

_He hastily moved his mouth off her neck and checked her face._

_Her eyes were opened, but it had lost its brightness, its life and her heart was no longer making any noise._

"_Caroline, wake up!" He shook her, he did not mean it to be like so._

_She simply laid there, her body stiff and icy, only the hair that lay upon her face moved as the frosty wind flew between them._

"_No!" He cried out holding her to his chest._

_The frightened child too screamed out deafeningly, as if it too felt for his loss. Their wails ran through every corner of the forest in one pitch, in one note._

_He had not thought his eyes would tear again in front of death anymore, but he was wrong. _

_He knew his blood was still in her, and he knew it could bring her back to life as it had Sage, when Finn had decided to turn her. But this was not the life he thought Caroline would have wanted to lead. No family, no children, an eternity of loneliness where everything around you die, he did not think it was for her. She was no monster, she should never be one._

_He sensed her move._

"_Caroline?" He asked softly._

"_What… what happened?" Her voice was shaky and low as she had not regained her strength._

"_You… you died…" He was still holding her in his arms._

"_What? What do you mean I died?" She writhed out of his hold, "Then how am I…" She stood up and took a few steps back._

"_You are one of us now," He got to his feet and slowly approached her, his right hand trying to reach her face._

"_One of you? No! This cannot be… I do not wish to be!" She walked backwards looking at his hand as if it was some kind of a snake that could strangle her._

"_But you are now, it cannot be undone now," It was not easy for him to look her in the eye, thus his eyes moved about trying to find some safe place to stare at._

"_Did you do this to me because you think I'm at fault for what had happened to you?" She was holding her head as if she was about to tear it off._

"_Caroline, listen," He went closer, taking one stride and another but she backed up even more._

"_No… I did not think you hated me that much to turn me into a monster like you," She began to cry, her arms embracing her dead self, seemingly feeling the heart that had gone missing._

"_Caroline," He reached out to her with tentative steps, but she merely pushed him back._

"_No get away from me!" Her face was turning into a monster like him, and she crouched in pain, "What have you done to me?" Blood dripped from her mouth as her gums made way for her canine teeth._

"_Caroline, Listen I was…I am" He was trying to be as calm as possible, yet she would not budge, she would not stop accusing him, would not stop doubting him._

"_I did not think you would do this to me Niklaus," She had transformed fully, her subtle beauty, her gentle blue eyes, everything had changed to something vicious, "Look what you have done to me," She stared at her hands that had lost its softness, that had become wrinkled and was being taken over by dark veins that no longer carried warm blood that she was used to, "I would have rather died, rather have been eaten by those wolves,"_

"_I should have let you die…" He roughly took her by the shoulders, wanting to make her stop accusing him._

"_Do you really believe I did something so evil deserving of a horrible fate as this?" Her normal features were slowly returning while she kept searching for pieces of the answers she was looking for in his eyes._

"_Yes that is right Caroline, you are absolutely right!… all I was thinking about was how to get my revenge, How I could avenge you for betraying me… and what better way to take my revenge than to make you a monster just as myself," He was angry and had had enough of trying to explain to her about what had happened, for it did not seem as if she was willing to hear him out or even if she did, he figured she would not have believed him._

"_So you really do hate me then?" She gazed at him harshly, but she sounded disappointed._

"_Yes… It seems so" He thrust her so hard making her back crash into a tree._

"_I hate you too for doing this to me… for turning me into this… this thing," She was once more crying and he could not stand it._

"_So it is settled then, we hate each other, then I do not see any reason for me to be here anymore…" He waited for her to give him a reason to stay, but she merely whimpered. _

"_Goodbye Caroline…" He walked away without turning back, his head felt heavy and his chest he felt even heavier as he walked away listening to Caroline's shattered cries._

For the second time he had said his goodbyes, for the second time he was sure he would never meet her again, never be the friends that they were once before. Yet now standing in a backstreet somewhere in Chicago, miles away from where their homes were more than nine centuries ago, he had come to realize the world was too small for them to not to meet again, their fates were entwined with the other to not to cross paths again, their roles however much they had been trying to define as enemies they had kept becoming something else to the other. So he was sure the next time they meet, whether it would be in a year or in a decade or in a century their bond would evolve into something else.

He returned to the speakeasy with a hopeful smile.

Stefan was still completely engrossed in the blood and Rebekah was simply sitting there looking at the mess she had made out of Stefan.

Klaus went around and sat alongside Stefan, "So I see he's still at it?"

Rebekah exhaled to let out her frustration, "And what are you smiling about?"

"Nothing," Klaus's smile widened for some reason.

"I'm going to the ladies room," Rebekah excused herself and walked along the wall avoiding the crowd to get to the washroom.

Someone brashly turned Klaus by the shoulder, "You need to get out of here now!"

"Caroline!" Klaus could not control his zeal for she had come to him, sooner than expected.

"There's no time to explain, you have to get out of here!" Her eyes looked scared, her hand that rested on his shoulder twitched as she looked behind her constantly.

"What is it?" He put his hand over hers wanting to calm her down, wanting to know what had made her look so troubled.

Her hand slipped out of his touch. "It's your father… he's here… in town… looking for you… you… You should go… you should…. go now!" She spoke as though she was talking in some kind of code for she could not form a proper sentence.

It has been centuries since Klaus's father had managed to catch up to him, and Klaus was not willing to sit there and find out if the distance had really made his heart grow fonder over his children, for Klaus was thousand percent sure it had not.

Klaus got up from his seat; his hand automatically brushed Caroline's cheek, "Thank you Caroline,"

She stopped his hand before it moved closer to her lips, and simply nodded.

He nodded back and took his hand slowly and unwillingly as he set off looking for Rebekah.

He found Rebekah as she was just coming out of the ladies room.

"Time to go, little sister," He caught her by her wrist and started to drag her.

"Why?" She whined, taking heavy steps backwards.

"Stop asking questions and just come," He walked faster, giving his sister no choice but to simply whine and be dragged off by him.

He could see Caroline had finally managed to get Stefan out of his trance, for he had let go of the woman who was now lying on the seat unconscious.

"Run… we're being raided!" Someone hollered and chaos arose. People started to run wildly, women screamed as they were being toppled over. Glasses were heard breaking as tables and chairs tumbled over while people stampeded out of the bar.

"Stefan!" Rebekah yelled as their view of Stefan and Caroline was now completely covered by the mob of people who absurdly ran about bewildered.

They heard a gunshot which made the situation become even more frenzied.

"Bekah you need to run. Our father is on his way… we don't have time to get caught up in all this!" Klaus turned Rebekah to him, to get her attention.

Yet her eyes kept seeking for her date. "Nik… but I can't leave Stefan!"

"Go around the back and wait for me in the car... I'll see what I can do," He was in truth was concerned not about Stefan, but Caroline for his eyes were trying to catch a glimpse of her which had disappeared somewhere within the crowd.

"But..." Rebekah opened her mouth in protest, her hand clinging to her brother's sleeve.

"Go!" Klaus grunted, and Rebekah knew him well enough to just scamper out of there without trying to fight over something she would not possibly win.

Klaus then dashed through the chaos, throwing off everything and anyone that stood in his way to the side. Some flew over heads and dropped across the room, but no one was in their right mind to notice anything out of the ordinary.

He could scarcely make out Caroline's white dress flow as she moved about, and secretly he hoped she was still there because she was waiting for him.

"Caroline, Come with us," Once more the words just naturally came to his lips.

"I... I don't think I can… I can't…" Her hand was holding onto Stefan's who was madly looking around, probably for Rebekah.

"Why?" Klaus's eyes were fixed on their knotted hands.

"I… I just can't… " She was hiding something but he couldn't figure out what.

"Is it because of Stefan, because you're afraid we'll destroy him? Because you love him?" He speculated for he noticed that though Stefan was trying to go look for Rebekah, Caroline had a firm grip on him stopping him from running off.

Caroline didn't reply, she glared back as if she was accused of a brutal murder.

"Where's Rebekah?" Stefan seemed overly tense, the natural colour in his eyes were still buried by the glaze of blood lust.

Klaus had no clue as to what came over him, he took Stefan by his neck and looked into his eyes, "You've never known either me or my sister," Klaus could feel Caroline's hands trying to stop him, but he did not let it bother him, "You will not remember what happened in here… once you get out of here with Caroline, You'll have to take care of her and keep her safe,"

"Why did you do that for?" Caroline stomped her foot, her nails digging into his hand that was still holding to Stefan's neck.

"Saving my sister an eternity of heartbreak, and letting you have what you want?" Klaus threw Stefan back.

Caroline's hand was still holding his hand angrily, "You should let your sister make her own mistakes, and I can't believe after all these years you have no darn idea about what I want or need! When are you going to learn that you can't control people's lives like this?"

"So you agree with me then? Rebekah being with Stefan would be a mistake? Because he is in love with you and you are in love with him?" Klaus's eyes were hoping to see his words to be proven wrong.

She took her hand back, "No! That's not what I meant, why do you only here what you want to hear? Anyway wasn't it you that said we vampires cannot love, and it's useless? So why are you so worried about who loves who?" She was almost whispering her last sentence, the yells of people around them making it almost impossible for Klaus to hear her.

"May be I was wr… " He had to hold onto the rest of his words as sounds of gunshots hitting the ceiling above them began to make the already frightened crowd stumble and fall on one another as they looked for places to hide.

His attention turned to one of the chandeliers that had been hanging up in the high ceiling all night which suddenly dropped to the floor with the sound of another gun shot, and when he turned his head back to Caroline, she was not where she was before. He saw her about to run out a door with Stefan. She turned one last time to look back at him as she mouthed a very soft goodbye and scurried away out of his scope.


	7. The Dance

**A/N: Thanks again for favourting and putting alerts, and reviewing... they all encourage me a lot... sorry I was late to update... I have everything planned out... there will be about four chapters more..**

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**The Dance**

_Present Day Mystic Falls USA…_

Klaus went through the very cramped closet and picked up the one shirt he thought was decent enough to try on and pulled it down over his head.

He went in front of the mirror, "Who is this guy Safari Sam?" He glared unimpressed at the mirror; at the man he had become to inhabit, 'Alaric Saltzman'.

The history teacher in the morning, and the vampire hunter at night, 'Alaric Saltzman' did not seem to have good taste in clothes at all. "Doesn't this guy know just because you're a history teacher, you don't have to dress like someone from the past?" Klaus turned back to look at the opened closet, seeing that the other options were even worse, he thought whatever he had chosen to try was at least bearable and chose to keep it on.

"When are you going to let me go?" asked the brunette who had been sitting glued to the chair in the living room for the past few hours.

"As soon as you tell me everything you know Katherina," Klaus sneered walking over to his most hated doppelganger and bent to meet her deceitful eyes.

She looked down as always, for there was always some kind of secret or the other she kept trying to hide behind her not so innocent looking eyes. "I've already told you everything…. They're planning to use the Bennet witch against you… and Caroline will do anything to stop you,"

"Somehow I don't believe that's everything sweetheart," He moved his dilating pupils closer to her as he grabbed her head by her long dark hair to turn her pale skinned face to him, "Now be a good little girl and sit here like you've been for the last few hours, don't move even an inch, don't even try to ask for help or run away from here, and don't speak until I tell you to," He pushed her head back and got his hand free, "I'll deal with you later doppelganger," Before he went looking for Mystic Falls High, he narrowed his eyes at Katherina who now literally sat without moving an inch.

He walked about the hallways of the high school in the little known town, where he was sure that his doppelganger would be. He strolled trying to ignore the teenagers who ran about worried about their dates to some dance and pimples, which had suddenly appeared out of the blue, that could most probably hinder their chances of finding a last minute date to the said dance.

The bell rang and the crowd suddenly scatted off to their classes. It was then Klaus could see the mess of a decorations that was splattered and smacked on to each and every wall, corner and ceiling in the building, with posters that glittered, saying the 'Roaring 20's', which supposedly was taking place that night, hence the fuss.

He mulled over his plans looking at the poster, his plans he assumed would go even more smoothly for the dance would be the perfect distraction.

He sighted a useless teenage boy with a bright orange badge that said, 'Hall Monitor' and pulled him by the collar, "Do you know where my class is?" He compelled the young boy, but from the way the boy trembled it seemed he would have answered him either way.

The boy pointed at a door. "it's over there,"

"Thank you, now go about doing whatever that hall monitors do," Klaus let go and adjusted his collar back to the way it was.

"Hey don't run in the hallway!" The hall monitor went after a girl who he had spotted running around the corner.

Klaus entered the room that the hall monitor pointed at.

As the door swung open, the teens ran off to their seats.

Straightaway he spotted the young doppelganger 'Elena Gilbert', he felt her aura seemed more like Tatia than Katherina from the way the brunette smiled showing off some kind of poster to her friend, possibly about the dance the whole school was so tense about.

It took Klaus a long second to realize the rest of the class was looking up at him, waiting for him to start his lesson, "So class…" He looked around the room trying to find out what the Alaric guy had been teaching, "Where did we leave off last time?"

The door opened suddenly, "We were talking about the twenties, because of the twenties decade dance… which we'll be having tonight," There stood the blonde who he had known one way or the other would show up wherever his doppelganger was, to resume their usual dance, yet he hadn't quite expected her to be attending high school along with the doppelganger, moreover he didn't expect that accent, an American to come out of her mouth. It may have been all a part of the blending in Caroline had once upon a time lectured him about. He smiled at the memory as his eyes roamed on her, studying her head to toe. Between the accent, the blue jean and the little matching jacket she wore over her skimpy pink blouse she truly did blend in perfectly, there was no trace of the woman he met nearly nine decades ago, yet there was nothing about her new look he didn't like, in truth he found her new persona to be even more intriguing, it was as if he had met the care free 'Caroline Archer', his friend after a long time.

"Sorry Mr. Saltzman we got late, I was discussing somethings over with the dance committee," She explained as she came in with Stefan following her closely.

For a moment Klaus couldn't understand why she wasn't trying to run away from him, why she didn't look at him with that surprised look about her face, until he realized she called him 'Mr. Saltzman' for he was now Alaric Saltzman, her history teacher.

Caroline walked in the way of the front seat that was vacant, and Klaus just stood in his spot catching her familiar scent that made every part of his dead body shudder.

Caroline sat and smirked at Stefan, who was prompt to return the gesture as he took the seat to the left of her.

Their wordless little interactions made the dark blood in Klaus's veins stir and he made his way over to Stefan's desk, "Are you also a member of this dance committee?"

"Not really," Caroline answered on behalf of Stefan, looking quite surprised by his question.

"So why was he late then?" One turn and he was staring at Caroline, who looked up at him steaming. She had completely turned around in her seat to look at him.

"Shouldn't you be asking him that?" Caroline rolled her eyes, picking up her pencil as if she wanted to stake him with the little thin yellow piece of wood.

"Since you were so keen on answering me on behalf of Mr. Salvatore, I thought I should ask you instead," Klaus watched the blue fire in her eyes dance as he spoke.

"What's gotten into Ric?," The Doppelganger's friend to her right whispered.

He could hear the doppelganger then whisper back to her friend, who he recognized to be the Bennet witch. "I don't know, Bonnie" Elena's eyes stared as if she suspected there was something off about him.

Sensing that he may not be acting as the same way their normal history teacher would, and sensing the ogling eyes of the students in the class, he decided to drop the topic, "I'll let it pass for this time, but next time make sure you that you're not late!" He walked back to his desk and turned to the green board with a piece of chalk in his hand, mostly so he could escape Caroline's glare.

He wrote, '_The Twenties'_ in big cursive letters on the board, and turned to the class that apparently he had to teach for the next forty minutes.

"So the twenties… " Klaus came in front of the desk, he paused for a second his eye catching Caroline adjust herself, getting ready to listen.

Seeing her intrigued face, his mind wandered back to the night they parted ways last, the night for the first time he heard her sing, the night that they danced together for the very last time, "It was The Jazz Age… Girls were reckless, sexy, fun. They literally used to dance until they dropped," Klaus uttered engrossed in his memories.

Caroline's unimpressed eyes glanced at Stefan, with a smile coloring the corner of her mouth that seemed to bear secrets that only both she and Stefan seemed to know, "You speak like you were actually there," Caroline mocked,.

She may have been merely trying to make fun of her teacher, yet Klaus felt his cover may have been compromised, "It's just I've read lot of books on the twenties," He added nervously, and he couldn't believe that Caroline was able to make him, the thousand year old him, look almost an idiot in front of the pesky teenagers in the class.

"Whatever…" Caroline mumbled to herself, giving off a look that clearly stated that her teacher could not possibly know anything about the twenties that she didn't already, for she was actually there.

"It was the time after world war one…." Klaus began to explain to the class with a smirk, walking arrogantly between the teens that groaned in their chairs, sensing the forty minutes long speech that was coming their way.

His reformed plan was to remain undetected till the decade dance, and when everyone was busy mingling and dancing with their dates, to run away with the doppelganger, yet he had found a glitch in his perfect plan, 'Caroline'. Though it was not entirely unexpected he had not deemed that her presence, the way she twirled in her seat as she listened to his every word, playing with her hair as if she suspected something, the way her lips opened slightly as if there was a question she wanted to ask him, would have such an effect on him, it may have had the same effect on him every time he had met her again and again for the past few centuries, yet like every time he had found himself feeling quite surprised at the influence she had on him.

The class was finally over, his first day in the dreadful High school was finally over, the only part he liked about the miserable task of teaching history to humans that saw no value what so ever of it was that he got to see Caroline, an innocent Caroline who was not constantly looking back over her shoulder wary of him, or the dangers she seemed to be constantly tangled in.

"So is everything ready for tomorrow Martin?" Klaus asked as he walked into the history teacher's apartment.

"Yes, first we'll have to get you back into your body, and then the sacrifice…" A well-dressed tall man with mahogany skin turned his head up from the books he had stacked upon the table he was sitting behind.

"I hope my vampires have done their job and have what we need," Klaus walked over and skimmed through few pages of the book that was on the top of the stack, his eyes then cast a darkened glance at the man who inevitably stood as if to show his respect.

"It's all done. I spoke to them… they've taken a werewolf and a vampire for the sacrifice…" Martin's eyes wandered somewhere behind Klaus, "But what about her, she knows our plans…"

Klaus looked over his shoulder at the centuries old doppelganger who was sitting in the exact same spot the exact same way she was in the morning, "She won't tell anything... I'll make sure of it… you go through everything again and make sure there are no loopholes," Klaus turned and made his way over to Katherine. "So tell me sweetheart, what are you not telling me?"

"I told you everything," She stated once again, her face this time unable to hide for she was still not told to move.

"Not really… you didn't tell me about Caroline attending high school… or did it just slip from your mind?" He sighed, "Let's say I forgot about you keeping it a secret for a moment… and now tell me what you don't know, about what Elena's friends are really up to… I'm sure they are well aware that I'm on my way… I am sure Caroline has been expecting it," His eyes stared deep into her scheming ones that had shades and shades of brown layered on top of each other, helping her retain all her secrets buried.

Before he could even think about compelling her Katherina began to garble out some more secrets on her own, "They are planning to use their witch to fight you but I don't know how… something about the dead witches, and for the record I had no idea Caroline was going to High school with Elena, otherwise I would've told you, and may be you just hadn't asked the right questions, to get all the answers you wanted?"

"Very well then," He nodded as if to say he believed her, "Dead witches… look up what you can find out about that…" Klaus ordered Martin, his glare still hovering on Katherina, "What else?" He growled at Katherina.

"Caroline… Caroline is somehow connected with your curse and you…" She continued to talk mechanically.

"My curse? Me?" Klaus backed up, his eyes still on the doppelganger, the bit of new information making him look completely shocked.

"Yes… but I don't know what it means exactly," Katherina explained, her eyes still locked on to Klaus's.

"That's something new," He tried to see whether she would flinch her eyes, just to know whether she was not just making something up, "Thank you sweetheart, you've been a great help, I always believed Caroline was a fool to keep you around, and treat you as a friend," Klaus walked away from Katherina with his eyes squinted and his right hand index finger thrusting on the side of his forehead.

"Now that I literally told you everything will you let me go?" Katherina asked timidly.

Klaus turned about, "I don't think so… at least not until everything is done… even then I am not sure you'll be leaving alive, and thanks for that tip about the moonstone by the way, It saved me a whole lot of time," He raised his eyes and pulled out the moonstone out of his pocket. After admiring its beauty for a second he put it back inside, and then turned his back to the brunette to go over to where Martin was, "Do you think what she's saying is true? Could Caroline be connected to the curse?"

"I… don't know… I will have to go through the spell again and see if there's anything I've missed," Martin as soon as the words left his mouth knew that wasn't the answer Klaus was looking for.

"So what are you waiting around for then, start looking for it… and you better find it before I return tonight with the doppelganger," Klaus threatened, "What about the Bennet witch?"

"Don't worry, she can't kill you without killing the history teacher in the process, even then you could still jump back to your own body, I'll make sure of it," Martin nodded his eyes scanning for something on the table.

"Let's hope they love their history teacher enough to want to see him alive, because I'm not planning to go to this stupid dance just to come empty handed," Klaus shoved the warlock aside and walked back towards the closet. He opened the it again, only to be reminded again that the history teacher of mystic falls didn't have that much of an impressive collection of clothing, for he simply might have been too busy making exam papers and coming up with pop quizzes, while he hunted for vampires to think about his clothes.

Klaus only saw two suits inside, hidden in the corner, and both of them not a brand he would have preferred, nevertheless he pulled them out for they were the only choices he had, one black which may have been Mr. Saltzman's church cum funeral suit and one white, which was somewhat better. He thought may have been his 'Special Occasion' suit thus he put the white one on.

He looked at himself in the mirror and felt a tad better seeing that it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. It could have been crappier he thought, and as he came out of the room all ready and rearing to go, he heard Katherina snicker, "I thought you were the chaperone? Why are you so dressed up like you're going to your prom?"

Klaus shot back fiercely at Martin, who he thought was about to join in on the laughter.

Martin wisely looked down at one of the spell books.

"Isn't sitting there without moving a muscle enough of a torture for you… shall I think of some other way to remind you of your place?" Klaus picked up an arrow Alaric had made and threw it right over her head, intentionaly missing it by a millimeter just to indicate to Katherina he was not opposed of hurting her.

"I… I was just…." Katherina looked as if she needed no more motivation to keep her mouth shut, for she tightened her lips together.

"Don't talk again until I tell you and don't move," He compelled her yet again before dashing off to the dance.

'_The Roaring 20's'_, a big banner covered the top of the entrance to the school gym. It was decorated with lights and some glittery things and what not.

Klaus entered the gym, expecting utter disaster of an era he truly loved.

Yet the effect was quite the opposite, though most costumes were tacky and he could tell were bought from some costume shop around the corner and there were hand phones buzzing on the hands of one teenager or another, the music that played made him feel as if he was being transported to the past by some kind of a spell.

He made his way through the crowd and stood near the refreshment table where he spotted few of the adults hanging about.

Some woman came smiling towards him and much to his surprise planted herself in front of him, "Ric, I know things haven't been great between the two of us… but I hope we can work things out... I'm sorry I doubted you like that,"

He knew he should have done more research about the history teacher and Elena's class mates, for first Caroline showed up, absolutely confusing him, then now this woman, who seemed to have something going on with the history teacher. Katherina had not been a useful source as he thought she should have been; expect for telling him where to find the moonstone and expect for what she revealed about Caroline being connected to his curse in some way but that would be useful only if it turned out to be true, he thought.

Klaus was quiet trying to think of something that wouldn't give away he didn't know anything of the woman that was looking at him.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" The woman lightly grasped his arm.

"Jenna, you look great!" Bonnie, the Bennet witch he saw wave at the woman.

For the first time a Bennet witch had come for his rescue, he exhaled,, "You don't have to be sorry Jenna, I understand perfectly… it was my fault as much as yours, I shouldn't have acted that way, I hope we could work things out too," He said whatever he thought she wanted to hear.

"Great, I'll see you around," Jenna with a gentle smile walked away when someone, possibly a teacher called out her name.

"Yes, see you around," His eyes strayed elsewhere, he had no care for the woman that walked away for he saw 'Her' among the rest of the teenagers, her red dress most definitely chosen so that she would stand out not so because she could blend in, her curls were put together in a way that it framed the gentle features on her face flawlessly, he could feel his feet moving towards Caroline, and he found it absolutely impossible to control them.

Thankfully someone yanked him from behind before he did something stupid, "Hey, Ric, ready to find the big bad?" A raven haired pale skinned man with blue eyes was standing behind, if what Katherina told was correct it had to be Damon, Stefan's unabashed and cocky brother she gave a very lengthy description of.

"Well Damon my friend, I hope he isn't bad as they say," Klaus played along, his eyes watching Caroline being asked to dance by some blonde haired high school jock.

He tried listening in, it may have been the weak human body or the fact its human heart was beating so loudly, he couldn't catch anything they were saying.

"Experience tells me he's going to be worse," Damon smirked, and patted him on the back, as he picked up a drink from the refreshment table.

A pleasant smile came about his face catching Damon's comment, for little did Damon know he was absolutely right, "Well, we'll have to see don't we," He couldn't take his eyes from the dance floor for she was now laughing hysterically, almost falling over into the man's arms.

"What are you looking at?" Damon he could see was trying to guess where he was staring.

"Nothing," He turned to Damon quickly with a fake smile.

"Are you kidding me? You have a thing for Blondie? I know she's a vampire and I know you know she's a vampire, but since no one else knows… I don't think it would be a good idea for the history teacher to be staring at one of his student's like that, any way if Jenna sees you…." Damon drank from the cup in his hand, and he made a disgusted noise, "Uh… Vervein," and put the cup down back on the table.

"I wasn't staring," Klaus said still staring at the blonde.

"Well alright buddy… I believe you… but you do know you wouldn't stand a chance right?" Damon put his hand over the shoulder of the man Klaus was residing in.

"And why do you think that?" Klaus glanced at the arm that was draped around him, if he was in his own body and if he wasn't so intent on getting the doppelganger, he would have broken the young vampire's arm, he was certain of it.

"Well for one there's this whole history between Stefan and her, and he's so over protective of her for some reason…. I know I know… Stefan's with Elena… but Barbie and my little brother has this weird thing I can't explain," Damon sighed before he continued on, "And then there's the fact she's a freaking thousand year old vampire!" Damon's eyes got bigger trying to exaggerate the point he was about to tell, "I mean I don't think a small town vampire hunter like you could handle someone like her,"

"And you can?" Klaus narrowed his eyed at Damon.

"Well you know me," He shrugged, "But…" Damon raised his brows, "Actually Blondie would never give me a chance to find out, and believe me I've tried,"

Klaus felt an urge to punch Damon's mouth and laugh watching him swallow his teeth, but he reminded himself, that he was actually there for the doppelganger, for nothing and no one else.

"There's your opening… Captain America aka Matt I think is leaving Blondie to go to the little men's room or something… I mean if you want to… there's your opening my friend, and let's just hope she was too busy to hear our little guy talk," Damon only had to finish the sentence, for without even answering him Klaus had gone to Caroline.

She was leaning back on the wall waiting for her date to return.

"Caroline," Klaus had no idea what else he wanted to say.

"Ric, Care to dance till Matt comes back?" She actually didn't wait for an answer, she just dragged him to the dance floor, "One innocent dance with a student I don't think will cause you to lose your teaching license,"

The fast jazz beat changed to something slow, it was a curse by itself Klaus figured, for how was he to act like the puny human teacher when he had to dance so close to Caroline.

"_At last my love has come along, my lonely days are over…" _the lyrics of the song somehow made it all the more awkward for him as Caroline put one hand on his arm and the other tangled itself with his.

"Ah, I told them this was a song from the forties and they still decided to play it!" She complained her anger apparent on her face.

It brought upon a smile to his lips.

"What are you laughing about, Mr. Saltzman?" Caroline growled.

He too actually didn't know why he found her red face so amusing, "Nothing,"

"Whatever!" She rolled her eyes at him, "So…" she paused to look around at the crowd, "So do you think this dress would work? I mean… is it enough to distract him?"

"Who?" Klaus asked looking about trying to figure out what she was searching for.

"Niklaus…" She answered looking surprised as to why he hadn't known.

But he knew he may have looked more shocked than her.

"Sorry I forgot you weren't there when we came up with the plan, actually when Damon came up with the plan to use me as a distraction, 'Klaus bait' that's his new nickname for me… anyway I only have to distract him until Bonnie is ready to take him… Stefan wasn't really a fan of the whole thing, but I talked him into it," Caroline looked at their feet as if she wasn't that much sure of the plan, "Anyway we have to find him first," she said softly.

He sneered for she had unknowingly revealed their plan. "Believe me love, that dress works, you don't have any reason to look so disappointed, and I don't think you should say these things out loud… who knows he might be standing very close to you and you might not even know it," He felt a bit of himself peering through the human skin he was living in, and he hoped she hadn't noticed.

"There's something different about you," She paused to ponder looking at Alaric Saltzman's face, then She shook her head as if to throw away the thought, "It's all right Bonnie had a solution for that too, she has put a spell on the whole building so that only the three of us would be able to hear each other using vamp hearing," her eyes were still down, worried as they moved about the dance floor, "I don't like this plan," She uttered suddenly looking up.

"Why?" He asked eagerly, his hand dragging her closer to him by her waist.

He could hear whispers going around, probably about their apparent closeness; he didn't care about rumors starting for he figured it wasn't his teaching license that was in jeopardy.

"I don't know... It's…" Her eyes gleamed with tears that she was holding back, yet she tried to bring up a smile, "Now don't start to lecture me again about, why you think I have feelings for Niklaus and he has feelings for me… and don't even try to say why you think we're soul mates or something because of that stupid blood bond thing you found in that stupid cave, and because you think that's I've got something to do with the sun and the moon curse,"

It was as if he was hit on the head with an iron pole, for there was too much information to take in, with so many questions springing up in his head he felt his knees almost go weak, _almost_.

All in all he came to the conclusion that he kind of liked the Alaric guy he was pretending to be.

"Hey," Caroline was waving her hand in front of his face, trying to get him out of his daze.

He looked at her, at her smiling face as her hand once more clung on to his shoulder. He wondered to what extent was Alaric correct, or was he correct at all or was anything true, and even then did it mean he had to take the doppelganger and Caroline both, either way it seemed Caroline wasn't willing to believe any of it to be accurate assumptions. "Sorry love I…" He slipped out of character again.

Caroline's eyes only flickered few times before she talked, "So does my history teacher approve of the twenties themed dance I planned, since you seemed to have read so many books about the subject?"

"Well I approve of how you look tonight," Klaus couldn't help himself, even though he saw something quite different had come over her face, a shadow of doubt hover over her, he couldn't stop himself.

Her eyes went wider and just as she opened her mouth to retort her phone buzzed and she pulled it out from the secret pocket on to her side.

"Excuse me," She started reading a message and typed in something and sent it. Her face wrinkled for a moment, but smiled back when she looked at him.

"What is it?" Klaus was trying to read her not so genuine smile.

"It's Elena, boy trouble…" She said with an eye roll, "I don't know why these doppelgangers always end up in a tug of war between two brothers,"

For a brief moment Klaus thought she was referring to Elijah and him for there's was something about Caroline's face that didn't quite look right, "First Katherina with Damon and Stefan and now Elena," She gasped, her eyes studying his that probably looked very suspicious.

"Guys, I got some news from Bonnie, she says that Klaus is in here somewhere," Stefan was scanning the room, his hand tightly gripping Elena's hand.

Caroline stood on her toes and looked over Klaus's shoulder and behind her. "But, I can't see him,"

"But Bonnie said she could feel his power," Elena hugged herself nervously, her face dropped down.

"May be Bonnie's wrong," Klaus tried to put something to the conversation.

"May be he's used a body switching spell," Caroline mumbled and Klaus looked at her admiringly for she always was a clever one, even when she was human.

"So we'll split up and look for him, Ric you go with Caroline and I'll take Elena with me," Stefan took the doppelganger with him.

If he was in his own body he wouldn't have let Stefan order him around, but he had to deal with it especially since Caroline was standing beside him, especially since now he had found out Caroline was in some way connected to him with some kind of blood bond and it seemed he had to take Caroline and Doppelganger both with him in order to complete the spell.

"Come let's go," Caroline went ahead of him and he followed her through the crowd.

In a few minutes they were skimming the lesser crowded parts of the school. Except for few kids who had managed to sneak some booze in to the school premises and gotten drunk hiding in a corner, they found no one else.

"This way!" Caroline dragged him inside some room.

It was dark; he could smell chlorine in the air.

Caroline turned the lights on, the bright lights made a sound as they flashed on to reveal a large blue body of water in front of him.

"There's no one here," he said to himself, and turned to Caroline timidly, sensing something was off.

"Well expect for me and you Mr. Saltzman," She bit her lower lip as her finger brushed across his chest. He could feel his temperature rise; Alaric's heart beat, as if it would burst out of his chest any moment. Yet, her scent reminded him that he was just a heartless creature that craved her blood, which was living temporarily inside the human.

"I know you've been wishing for this whole night," She stood in front, her feet parked almost between his.

He was lost, yes he may have been dreaming for something, but he wasn't quite sure it was for this, for he couldn't make out whether Caroline was truly interested on her history teacher, and if so why or was she just playing for she knew who he truly was.

"May be I have," He tried to keep his composure, but the damned human heart wouldn't slow down, and he knew she could hear it very clearly.

"I have too…" she said, her body leaning closer to the dumb Alaric guy's human body, holding on to his coat. Something stung on his heart as he realized she was trying to kiss Alaric and not him, "Sorry love, but I don't think it's going to happen tonight,"

Small clusters of laughter snuck out of her pink lips, until finally she dropped her head back and laughed out loud, "To tell you the truth it's not going to happen ever, Niklaus," She took a step back.

He could hear the bit of hate that lingered in every syllable as she pronounced his name.

"Good to know that you weren't just trying to seduce your innocent history teacher," He approached her taking a long stride.

She moved back, "Like I said, I was there to distract you not anyone else,"

"So is that what you're doing right now? Distracting me? Until all your doppelganger loving friends come?" He had billion things to do, like trying to find the doppelganger, trying to find what the whole blood bond, soul mate thing meant, but he chose to be distracted by her, chose to move closer to her as she moved further back.

"May be," She smiled playfully, definitely aimed to get his attention, aimed to distract.

"Was that the same thing you were doing in India?" he had waited long enough to ask the question, in fact centuries.

"India?" Her reaction was one that seemed confused, her eyes thinned and her mouth opened.

"Don't act as if you don't remember?" He took a step and she took a step, that led her to the edge of the swimming pool behind.

"How can I remember something that never happened?" She smiled nervously as she looked at her feet and saw that one more step and she could fall to the pool.

"Never happened?" His hands clasped her, "Or was it something that you wished never happened?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Her eyes seemed genuinely shocked.

He shook her, "Don't act like you don't remember the night we spent together..."

She scoffed as her eyes waved no, "What have you been smoking? Yes I've been to India and I was caught by William and I escaped, nothing else happened and certainly I didn't sleep with you… actually I've never met you there,"

Was she telling the truth, did it not actually happen, was it just his imagination or has she been compelled, he wondered as he tried to read her.

Or maybe she had forgotten it, and that thought hurt him more, "How can you forget?"

"How can I forget?" She fumed, her hands pushing him back, "You can forget a whole year we were together, and you blame me for one night that never happened?" Tears came rolling down from her eyes and she was quick to wipe them away and turn around to stare at the stale chlorine water of the pool.

He couldn't understand what she was saying, there was no way he could be with her for a year and completely forget about it, it was not like he could be compelled, he thought, as he began to lessen the gap ,"Caroline.. I don't know what you're talking about… we were never together for a year…"

"Infero Eseri Gratas, Disasustos Vom, Mas Pro Je Ta Sue Te! Victamas Veras! Phesmatos Tribum, Niha Sue Exilum, Disasustos Vom," A woman's chanting made him stop in his steps and turn around, and he spotted the Bennet witch, "Mas Pro Je Ta Sue Te! Levam, Mina Sue Te, Disasustos Vom," He was not strong enough to fight the spell as he was not in his own body, "Mas Pro Je Ta Sue Te! Phesmatos Veras! Fes Matos Tribum, Mas Pro Tes Unum! Victas Ex Melam, Phesmatos Vanem! Mas Pro Je Ta Sue Te!" He turned back to Caroline feeling his body growing numb, he had many things to ask her and she watched as if she was waiting for him to ask them, but there was no time, Alaric's body grew weak and he was thrown off to the pool over Caroline's head.

He could not even struggle let alone try to swim, so he just sank to the bottom.

He felt the human body beginning to give up on him as he watched Caroline stand on the edge of the pool. What she was thinking he could not comprehend for the ripples didn't give any chance to see her clearly, for the eyes of the human began to close and fall in to the darkness as the chants became louder.


	8. The Distraction

**A/N:** Sorry I took so long as always to update... thanks for the wonderful reviews... and for alerts and favourites...

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**The Distraction**

The feeling of being human was something Klaus had almost forgotten, the way the little organ in the left of his chest pattered crazily when it was excited or scared or the way it seemed to slow down and hurt, when giving up while facing death was something he had thought he would not ever be able to feel again, or ever remember feeling once a very long time ago, but as he closed his eyes awaiting his death, awaiting Alaric Saltzman's body to give up, he learnt that the memory of being such a fragile being, had never quite left his brain as he had thought. In fact he found that he may have secretly somewhat, an ounce or two, in an instance or two in his very long life, yearned to feel it once more.

His lungs, Alaric's Saltzman's lungs were slowly filling up with water; he could feel the weight of the water that surrounded him crushing his bones. This was it he believed, he felt like letting go, but there was something inside that made sure he didn't, he felt something within him distracting him from letting it all go.

"_Who do you love Caroline?" He remembered asking his friend in front of his home, when he used to have a heart of his own. _

_A smile prepared to learn something that he didn't know he wanted to hear at the time._

"_Not Elijah," Her lips danced and curved in to a playful smile, he could recollect the way the blue in her eyes twinkled that day, as if it all had happened just yesterday._

_It was true then, what they say, how you see your whole life flash before your eyes when you are in brink of death, he figured as he indulged in her exhilarating fragrance that still lingered in his head, as the memory of them making love in India flashed in front of his eyes. The way she fit so perfectly in his arms, the way he felt complete as he lied next to her, he remembered very clearly. _

_Bright blue eyes he saw in his mind's eye, her golden hair flowing as she ran in front of him, looking back time to time with a smile; he was running after her but he could never catch her._

"_You will find someone, who loves you more than me, someone maybe you too would care for, more deeply than me..." The words Tatia had said to console him when she decided they should part ways, echoed in his head._

_"Then I may have to live an eternity before I find someone as so..." He had answered her so naively that day, thousand years ago._

_His own cursed words made him madder, made him feel stubborn enough to live for an eternity just to see whether he could one day latch on to what he had been searching for what truly felt like more than an eternity._

Klaus's eyes opened, and he gasped hard; however, he learnt that he no longer needed to breathe again, he was no longer drowning in the swimming pool of Mystic Falls High, he was no longer in Alaric's weak human body, and just like that he no longer had a beating heart.

He was standing somewhere confined, dark. Everywhere he looked was just pure black. He discovered he was in a dark cocoon of sorts as he pushed the piece of wood that he felt in front of him. It opened slowly with a mournful creak.

He saw Martin, kneeling down, "Welcome back lord Klaus, please forgive me for taking so much time to put you back into your body," The warlock casted his eyes at him, only for a short moment before they looked back down, "I've put a spell on the apartment so that you need not be invited in, it gives me control to invite anyone here, … that is… only if you wish,"

"How long have I been out?" Klaus asked hovering over Martin.

"Just a day, But I'm afraid they've hidden the doppelganger somewhere, somewhere my witchcraft can't reach… I can't track them," Martin uttered, his voice shaking obviously knowing that what he said will not be taken well by the original standing before him.

Klaus had not yet recovered from the events of last night it seemed, for he was in no mood to lash back at the humble warlock, "Back to the drawing board then Martin," He stepped over the warlock and went pass him.

Hearing a very noticeable scoff like sound from behind Klaus turned around, "What?" He screamed at Katherina.

She breathed out, for she looked to have been itching to say something for a long while, it was only right for she was not allowed to speak until spoken to, by him, "So I see that she won this round too?" The annoying doppelganger mocked, her eyes rolling and settling somewhere on to her side.

"Need I remind you, that I can rip your heart out any moment I want? Or shall I compel you to do it yourself?" He glared as he made his way over to the brunette.

"You wouldn't?" She stared somewhat daringly, he could see she was half implying and half asking, "I'm useful to you," Her eyes held the same cunning charm he had seen on them when he met her for the first time, on his birthday, in the fourteen hundreds, and they were still trying to seduce him, divert him, but as always her futile attempts merely made him laugh out loudly.

"And how might that be?" He grunted at the little thing that sat motionless on the chair looking utterly alarmed.

Yet she persevered with her indifferent tone, "Like I said, you need to ask the right questions," Her eyes flinched nervously as soon as she finished the last word for she may have noticed the way his face warmed up in anger, how his fists tightened.

The woman would say anything that would keep her alive, he thought, "Do you really want to test my temper? " He angled his head to the side as he looked at Katherina, imagining the different methods he could use to rip off her tiny brown haired head.

She let out a short laugh, and looked away, mostly in fear.

"I didn't think so," Klaus sneered and turned to Martin, "Get to work now! Find out what is a blood bond! And what it has to do with Caroline,"

Martin simply bowed.

"And let my brother in if he comes," Klaus went to the bedroom, seizing a bottle of bourbon from the kitchen.

He turned the lights on and his eyes scanned for the small book shelf in the corner. Since apparently it was Mr. Saltzman's idea that there was such a thing called the 'blood bond', which he seemed to have also dubbed as 'soul mates', Klaus decided he should go through the History teacher's books.

After placing the bottle and the glass on the bedside cupboard, he went from one book to another, but he found nothing, except for some paragraphs that depicted few things in history rather incorrectly. The inaccuracy disgusted him, thus he let most of the books to fly callously out of his hands and fall to the floor. Then he went through the drawers only to find some bows and daggers hidden under the dullest looking socks.

Pouring himself a glass of bourbon, he dove in to the small bed, tired after finding nothing useful, tired returning home without the doppelganger, moreover feeling confused by everything he had heard and learned almost twenty four hours ago.

He rested his head on the headboard of the bed and tasted the bitter liquid. A mere sip was not enough to burn the throbbing discomfort away, so he held the glass tightly over his mouth until he had drained it fully.

As he was about to put the glass back on the small cupboard next to the bed, he saw a little notepad of sorts sticking out from underneath the lamp shade, that had been very innovatively repaired for some reason with duct tape.

He quickly put the glass down and pulled the book out.

The first page had some scribbles on it; they were some random notes about the twenties. It seemed Alaric had been jotting down a lesson plan. _'Boring, but better and more accurate than the books on the teacher's shelf_'he critiqued as he read through the notes.

Klaus turned a few more pages and still the lesson plan, but just as he was about to give up he came across some markings he had never seen before, with the name 'Caroline' written and underlined almost at the bottom of the page.

He gulped, though it seemed he had found what he had been looking for, somehow it made him nervous, feel a bit edgy holding the forty odd paged book in his hand.

On top of most of the symbols there was a loose translation in very small, barely readable hand writing.

"_Bond of blood… Niklaus,"_ he read the translation on top of the first few symbols .

The next word was scratched out and replaced with "_friend? mate?" _A few more question marks followed the translation as it seemed Alaric was not quite sure what the symbol actually meant.

Then the teacher had jumped a few symbols and had translated the last in the row as _"Curse,"_

The next few symbols were joined together to produce the meaning, "_Caroline… his only?" _It seemed Alaric had failed to translate the next marking and Klaus felt a surge of anger at his own inability interpret any of it.

His finger unknowingly drew over the symbol that supposedly meant 'Caroline' as he stared wondering what the next could be.

The last row was not translated at all; expect for the very last marking that Alaric had deciphered as meaning _"hybrids_".

What he had found may have not been the final translation but if it was, Klaus was rather disappointed that this was all Alaric had based his conclusion of them being soul mates, for after all the last symbols left out could mean, 'His only enemy, that could actually kill him, and the hybrids he would make' for anything that had to do with anything supernatural always had a way of messing with his life.

Klaus wanted to get out of bed and hand the paper over to the warlock who he was sure would have a better chance of understanding the mysterious markings, but he chose to simply lay there, for in truth he feared to know what it all may mean.

He turned over to the next page; it was blank, only the impact of what was written on the previous page remained on the white sheet.

His eyes wandered to the bourbon once more, his hand reached out to the bottle, but instead of gripping it, he had clasped a slightly blunt pencil that was sooner or later was bound to fall off the edge of the cupboard.

He drew a line, and another. He let his hand do whatever it wanted on the blank page as he thought about what Caroline had said about him forgetting them being together for a year, about how she denied everything that happened between them back in India, about the symbols he had just read on the other side of the page which he was now madly drawing upon.

Nothing made sense, who would have tampered with her memory, what would be the motive and if what Caroline said was true, what had happened to his memory, he thought, letting out a frustrated groan as he rested the pencil and the book on his lap and looked up at the ceiling.

With a sigh he turned his attention to the sketch he had made, he stared muddled by what he had drawn.

It was Caroline, with her usual spirited smile, her wavy hair gently lying on her shoulders, wearing the red dress he had seen her wear last at the 'Decade Dance'.

_His mind once more travelled to the past, to the day he drew his first sketch, a century or so after Caroline became a vampire, a few days after recovering from the hallucinations he had been having since the day he had killed the 'Hunter'. _

_That night, fifty two years, four months and nine days after killing the hunter, for some reason he could not quite understand, his hand was madly drawing upon sheets and sheets of parchment, in every and each one of them there was Caroline, some with a smile, some with her back turned to him as if she was saying good bye._

_It was his hatred, he believed that drove his hand to move about so intensely on the paper, "I hate her," he said to himself, as if wanting to verify it was indeed the feeling he felt; for it had to be hatred, for he had been having hallucinations of her trying to persuade him to kill himself, for he had been hallucinating her speaking to his ear every few seconds, trying to act as his conscience for more than fifty years. _

_Thus it had to be hatred he figured. _

"_Niklaus what is all this?" Elijah had picked up one of the drawings that was scattered about the floor of the bedroom._

"_I hate her!" He repeated, but the more he said it the more it felt a lie, yet saying it out loud made him feel oddly comforted._

"_What? But… why would you keep sketching the person you hate?" Elijah like always asked the right question at the wrong time._

"_You're right brother," he went pass Elijah and walked over to the little fire that was set up in the room and threw each sketch into the fire, one by one he let them burn. He watched her image burn and turn to ashes, and fly above the flames and drop back down to the center of the merciless fire. "I hope I never see your face again Caroline," He threatened the burning paper, "And I wish you too brother would not talk to me_ _about her from here on end," that was the end of that, as so he had thought that night._

He was once more looking at the new sketch he had drawn of her, this time he could not bring himself to call his reasons for sketching her as hatred, but there was nothing else he was willing to call it either, and he was hoping the symbols drawn by Alaric Saltzman on the other side of the page would somehow help name it.

"Lord Klaus, your brother has arrived," with a faint knock on the bedroom door Martin informed, breaking Klaus from his thoughts.

"I'll be there," Klaus got out of bed with the note pad in hand.

"How nice of you to drop by brother," Klaus went to his brother with opened arms, but Elijah was not as enthused to see him.

"What is Katherina doing here?" Elijah's eyes darted towards the woman seated in the middle of the living room, and she looked at him with a look that could contest Elijah's.

"She's been helping me out with finding some information about a certain someone," Klaus shot a glance at the doppelganger, and that made her instantly set her eyes at the window next to her.

"So did you find her?" Elijah questioned in a muffled tone as though he didn't want anyone else to hear him.

"Yes… she was in the same school as the doppelganger, She tried to trick me, actually she was quite successful, in fact she's taken the moonstone from me again," Klaus thinking of the events that took place last night, remembering the fact the moonstone was in Alaric's pocket when he was drowning, strolled over to the small kitchen area.

After putting down the note pad on the kitchen island he went through the pantry cupboards looking for something to drink, preferably hard liquor, like the one he had left in the bedroom earlier that he was too bored to go and bring back.

"I was talking about the doppelganger not Caroline," Elijah was behind him, and as Klaus stumbled upon a bottle of wine he did not miss the snarky tone joined to Elijah's words.

The cheap ruby wine was not what Klaus had intended to find, nevertheless he drew it out along with a couple of glasses. "Well if I do remember correctly, you had a 'thing' for Caroline… did you not Elijah?" He poured some wine to both the glasses and handed one to his brother, "So I assumed you wanted to know about her more than the doppelganger that you have nothing to do with… Or have you developed a small crush towards the Petrovas again?" Klaus's eyes gestured towards Katherina, who he knew, for a fact that Elijah had grown a liking to back in the day.

Instead of falling to Klaus's gesture, Elijah was about to turn over and open the little note pad, but Klaus quickly dragged it to his side.

Elijah's eyes ran from the book to Klaus's face, "I've lived long enough to know you can never change a person's heart however much you try," Elijah was been his cryptic self again Klaus thought, for he could not understand whether the comment was directed at Caroline or the Petrova doppelganger sitting behind him with an uneasy expression, or whether it was directed at both the women or was Elijah actually referring to him.

"They do not have hearts, and neither do we…" Klaus pointed out trying to make something light out of whatever Elijah tried to say.

"I guess you're right," Elijah lifted the wine glass.

"Welcome back Elijah," Klaus followed him by hoisting his own glass before he took a sip along with his brother.

Elijah nodded in response as he tasted the rather bland looking wine.

Suddenly Klaus felt something awry as he stared at Elijah.

His mind went back to what Caroline had said, how she dismissed the memory of them in India. If she _had been compelled could it have been Elijah, his most trust worthy noble brother?, _he could not help himself from suspecting him, for other than himself, Elijah was there that night, one of the few who could compel Caroline and he was someone with motive, someone who may actually benefit from making Caroline forget such a memory. But it was Elijah he was thinking about nevertheless, the noble Elijah, who Caroline herself had confirmed, that one night at the Château, as someone that would never compel her. _So could it be Kol?_ _He did find Kol the very next morning,_ He may not have a clear motive, but in truth Kol never needed one, he would have simply thought it would be fun to make her forget_. Or did Kol have a motive? He did joke about wanting to marry her a few times, _he recollected the few comments Kol made which at that time he considered to be nothing but Kol's usual babblings, but now he wondered whether Kol had been shielding a deep secret with his remarks. _Or was it his father?_ The man would want nothing but to see him hurt.

Then he thought of his own missing memory that Caroline had blurted out about, the year supposedly they were together, the lapse in time he had not even felt. _Would not Elijah or someone else in his family known of it? if so why all of them would keep it a secret? _he argued over every possible theory.

If Caroline had truly being compelled it had to be either one of the brothers, or possibly his father he concluded.

His eyes ran on his brother, scrutinizing, reading every little gesture, little movement of his body.

"Is there something wrong?" Elijah narrowed his eyes as he twirled the wine in his hand.

"Isn't there always," Klaus clasped the note pad in his hand tightly as he finished his wine.

If his brother was not to be trusted he could not let him know of the new information he found, he decided.

"So," Elijah's eyes glared at the notepad, no doubt intrigued by why Klaus was so attached to it, "What are you working on there?" Elijah put the glass on the island as he looked over at the warlock who was busy reading some book.

Before the warlock opened his mouth Klaus went around to answer Elijah, "Well nothing much, same old how to get the doppelganger and get rid of my curse… and planning a bit of world domination while we are at it," Klaus mocked much to the amusement of Katherine who he heard sneer.

"Like always," Elijah agreed, concentrating hard on looking at what Martin was reading as if he was scared if he shifted his head anymore he would catch the sight of Katharina's scornful face.

"Anyway…" Klaus began and paused as he found himself quite enjoying, watching Elijah avoid Katherine like a young vampire avoid the sun, "I was thinking about un-daggering Kol,"

"What do you mean un-daggering Kol? When was he daggered and why was he daggered in the first place?" Elijah understandably did not seem at all thrilled.

Martin lifted his head faintly probably sensing the not so great vibe coming from Elijah.

"I almost forgot to tell you Elijah, I daggered him few years ago, because he was getting on my nerves," Klaus replied as casually as if he was telling Elijah the time.

His answer merely made Elijah's eyes darker, "Because he got on your nerves?" his jaws clenched, Elijah was all about family, and Klaus would love to think in his own demented way he too was all about family, though sadly no one ever seemed to have seen it that way.

"You remember how he was? How obnoxious he was?" Klaus retorted by presenting his justifications.

"He may be obnoxious at times but I highly doubt he deserved to be daggered for that?" Elijah glared at the warlock, who he had caught staring.

The poor man hurriedly turned to the books again in fear. Elijah's fist dropped hard on to the table, making Martin jump a bit in his seat. "And why would you want to un-dagger him now? I doubt he would wake up wanting to give you a hug?"

"There's something I want to clear out with him, something that happened back in India," Klaus simply was studying Elijah's reaction, may be it would help him determine if he had anything to do with Caroline's lost memory, he hoped.

"In India?" Elijah gave nothing away but the standard surprised look, making Klaus dismiss his suspicion for a moment.

"I'll explain it to you another time, I do have few other pressing matters to take care of," It was Klaus's hint to let Elijah know he had over stayed his welcome.

"Where have you kept him? Let him go now!" Elijah roared, his hands landing in Klaus's throat.

Klaus shoved Elijah's hands away and shrugged, "Relax Elijah, I'll let you meet them in due time…"

"Them?" Elijah rarely showed this side of him, the ruffled and overcome with anger look didn't really fit his face.

Klaus's head bowed a tad as he smiled at the reaction for he had been expecting it, then he raised his eyes artfully only to see Elijah's burning face. "Yes, all three of them,"

"What? Where are they now?" Elijah sped towards Klaus with his fist held high.

Klaus side stepped before Elijah's angry fist could hit his face, "Calm down Elijah… there in a safe place…If I were you I would be thanking me for keeping them out of trouble for so long… you know how wild and erratic they are…well may be not Finn… but you know what I mean… I did what had to be done to make sure our family would be together one day…"

"You better make sure you un-dagger them soon Niklaus… or I will…" Elijah halted suddenly, for it was not his style to threaten his family members, it was Klaus's technique.

"I promise, you'll see them soon," Klaus put his hand on his chest as if taking a pledge.

Elijah narrowed his eyes, his brows almost touching each other, as if he was trying to hypnotize the truth out of Klaus. "Is there anything else you've been hiding from me?"

"It's not as if you've never tried to hide anything from me, am I wrong? Like the time you secretly went behind my back and told our parents that you wanted to marry 'Caroline'?" Klaus' words seemed to have made Elijah silent for a moment.

"If I had ever kept any secrets from my family, it was always to protect them," Elijah uttered gently looking shattered and hurt by Klaus's remark.

"Of course…" Klaus said letting a bit of sarcasm take over the words.

"Believe what you want Niklaus…" Elijah turned his back, "I'll be leaving now, when I come back I hope you've been smart enough to un-dagger our family…" He was making his way towards the door, "Katherina," Elijah acknowledged the brunette with a reluctant nod before he left the apartment.

Katherina who could not move, merely let her brown eyes stare at the door, and as soon as his footsteps were no longer heard, she smirked, "So… you don't trust your own brother with the blood bond thing? How very interesting? And I thought I was the one with trust issues,"

"Shut up!" Klaus snarled, and she did not need to be compelled to obey him.

"There's something I want you to look at Martin," Klaus tore a blank paper from the notepad he had been holding and started turning to the page where the symbols were.

He quickly copied the symbols and handed it over to Martin, as he did not want to give the original to him, for one he didn't want Martin to be influenced by the translation that was already there, but mostly, more truthfully it was since he had drawn a picture of Caroline on the other side of the page. "Try and find what it is," Klaus rolled up the note book and shoved it somewhere inside his coat.

The warlock nodded as he gazed quizzically up on the paper.

"Katherina my sweetheart," he went to the doppelganger again, "I have few more questions for you," He bent down a bit and started compelling her, "What do you know about the year that Caroline was with me… the one that I have no memory about?" He felt that he had more power and control over his compulsion than earlier, when he was in Alaric's human body, for though he was certainly capable of compelling someone while being Alaric, it was never quite like being himself.

The entranced brunette muttered involuntarily, "I only know it happened long before I was even born. I only heard her say something about it once in the whole time I've known her… It was few years after I became a vampire… I met her again in Italy… I was talking about how being a vampire has changed me, then she looked behind my shoulder like she had seen a ghost… and said being a vampire only heightens who we are, and she used to believe love and friendship is the only thing that can truly change a person, but after spending a year with you… seeing that you don't even remember her being there with you, she had lost hope that people could ever truly change for the better,"

Klaus may not have had a clear idea why Caroline had said those words, but he felt the weight of them, thrusting against his chest, he felt his body cringe, as his brain refused to process the meaning behind it all.

He managed to gather himself after a second, for he wanted to grill out every bit of information he could out of Katherina more so now than ever. "Do you know anything about what happened in India in the sixteen hundreds?" He compelled her further.

"Only that she was captured by William and she escaped…" Katherine explained.

"That'll be all," He tried not to seem so staggered while he walked backward staring at the brunette who was recovering from her compulsion, and he knew he too may have looked as if he was recovering from an illness of his own.

"So when are you planning to let me go," She asked just as she realized she had been compelled yet again.

"We'll see, just stay here, be quiet as always until I return," Klaus turned his back on the woman and scurried out of the apartment closing the door behind him with a large thud.

He walked pointlessly in the streets of Mystic Falls; it seemed strangely unaffected by all the supernatural drama that had been taking place for the past thousands of years. The town council seemed to have succeeded in keeping its town folks in the dark thus far.

He came across a place called the 'Grill' where he had heard somewhat about while he was pretending to be the history teacher. From what he had heard it was the only place where anyone in the dreary town would go for a bit of fun or for a drink or mostly in search of a distraction from their everyday life, and when Klaus entered the place the latter was what he found, 'a distraction' though it was a welcomed one, a distraction nevertheless; 'A distraction' that was named Caroline, who was dressed in something black with a very revealing back, sitting in a barstool with her coat resting on her lap, with some kind of beverage decorated with an umbrella sitting in front of her.

Klaus moved towards her slowly. "Hello love, I see that your history teacher is not dead after the little trick that you tried to pull?" He had noticed the history teacher near the pool table, with the young woman he had met at the dance; who had turned out to be Elena's aunt.

Caroline turned to him as if she felt a sudden shiver, "Niklaus?"

Klaus saw her eyes gesturing something to Alaric, possibly giving him the signal to alert the others but he simply acted not to have noticed anything peculiar, "What? No, _Nice to see that you're still alive after I tried to kill you?_"

She grumbled for she couldn't come up with a quick retort.

"I thought we've come to a truce in the twenties," Klaus took the unoccupied stool next to her.

"Well… that was before you compelled Stefan," Caroline played with the umbrella on her drink, her eyes focused on its floral design.

He leaned in to see her face, "I did it for a fair reason,"

She backed away as she shot a vicious glance. "Ugh… a reason no one else but you could understand!"

He heard her old accent come through a tad.

"Well I'm a complex person," Klaus grinned, and he himself could not remember a time he had grinned as so, especially not looking at someone who help try to kill him.

"Why are you even here? Don't you have anything better to do than sit here and annoy me?" She put the tiny umbrella back inside the drink and turned herself around, her face radiating nothing but frustration.

He looked at her as if she was an unsolvable puzzle; why she had to wear something as low cut as that in public he couldn't understand, and worse it certainly distracted him, distracted him to the point he could only come up with three words to answer her, "Actually I don't…"

The fact that she smelled so enticing didn't work in his favor either, for unconsciously Klaus too had turned himself completely around to her side following the delectable smell of her blood, and If his stool was a millimeter closer to hers he discovered that his knees would have accidently brushed against hers.

It was apparent she was aware of the fact too, for he could see how her red face was trying to avoid the fact they were sitting so near to each other, it may have been because she seemed to hate him so much, but anyway he took it as a small victory, a payback for all the distraction she was doing by just sitting there.

"Aren't you tired of… of… always loosing Niklaus?" She looked disappointed at the question, as though she wanted to ask something else but something else had come out of her mouth.

"You know me… when I want something I won't stop until I get it," He stared for a moment trying to guess what she truly wanted to ask.

Caroline was tactful enough to change her expression again quickly, to something more expectable to be seen when sitting in front of someone they despised, "So what is your new plan to get the doppelganger and the moonstone? Jump into the fifty year old English teacher's body?"

They both may have been trying to manipulate each other to get the answers they want, but it felt quite familiar, fun, actually Klaus very gladly embraced the lightness he felt as he talked to her, "Well as tempting as it sounds, I rather find another way, since I know your young Bennet witch is as powerful as her ancestors,"

"Ah he has a brain!" She rolled her eyes and took her drink back in to her hand.

"Oh give me some credit love, I might get distracted by a beautiful woman now and then, but I always… get what I want in the end," He watched her lips gently land on the glass and sip the bit of the drink that was left in it, though her eyes were on the drink he could see that her mind was processing something, billion gigahertz per microsecond.

After emptying the glass, she glanced at him with a proud smirk. "Not always, If I can remember correctly I've successfully smuggled the Petrovas and the moonstone under your nose a few times, last night being the latest,"

"That's because I let you," He teased, he felt the young boy that he used to be thousand years ago trying to crawl back into him.

A genuine smile was approaching her lips but she chose to hide it and roll her eyes instead, "Yeah right!"

He was highly amused by the reaction, he was talking with 'Caroline Archer' not the 'Caroline Forbes' she pretended to be he felt, "So tell me, at which point did you realize I was not your history teacher last night?"

"When you called me love for the second time I sent a text to Stefan to follow plan B," She was boasting, like she always did around him when they were human, he had not forgotten that arrogant smile of hers, how could anyone.

"Where is Stefan anyway? I thought I've compelled him to keep you safe?" He could care less for Stefan's absence, he in truth only wanted to know what Stefan and Caroline were to each other now, to learn if time had changed their friendship in any way.

"Once in a blue moon I'm able to convince him that he would be keeping me safe if he did this or the other with his friends, Thank god for that loophole!" She sighed, clearly frustrated by Stefan's over protective attitude which was all thanks to Klaus himself, "I mean if he had his way he would keep me locked up in that cellar in the Salvatore boarding house…" She shook her head; her face frowned, irked by the thought of living in some dungeon.

His question didn't obviously help divulge the answers he wanted but her expression gave somewhat of an idea about what Stefan was to her, an 'over protective friend' the most, it seemed the decades they spent together had not made their friendship develop into something more, "So where are the others sweet heart? The rest of the Scooby gang? Plotting to get rid of me?" Klaus had not forgotten the 'manipulation' part of the conversation, "But why would they leave their master mind, 'Caroline Forbes' in the bar if they were plotting something?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Her eyes fluttered, if Klaus didn't know any better he would have thought she was flirting with him.

"Actually I would rather like to know if you'd let me buy you a drink?" He truly meant it, and it even took him by surprise.

Yet Caroline had not seen it that way, "If you're going to sweet talk me into telling you about our plans you should know it's not going to work!"

"You don't say?" He forged staggered expression, only to amuse himself by watching her anger intensify.

She answered heatedly, "You're just here to find out where the doppelganger and the moonstone are and I'm not going to tell you!"

He was as cool and calm as ever, "And why would you think I'm just here for them? Can't I just come here to have a drink with my old friend?"

"'Old Friend'? We've been friends so very long ago the words 'old' or 'friends' aren't even relevant anymore," She turned back around towards the bar quickly, her hair springing into the air before it caught up with her.

He enjoyed the feistiness in her, it made him want to annoy her more, "Oh sorry my mistake I think I should call you 'my soul mate' then? Isn't that what you said the history teacher was calling us?" he munched on some sort of heavily salted peanuts the bartender had put in front of him.

She pushed a lock of hair that fell to her face behind her ear, still refusing to look at him, even more so now since he had brought up a topic she looked rather hesitant to talk about, "Is this your way of trying to find out what it actually means?"

"I mean you have to say, the history teacher does have a point," Though Caroline may have wanted to do nothing more than move away from the subject, Klaus was suddenly feeling courageous enough to get to the truth, "Look at us, we've known each other since the day you were born… we were friends once and then enemies… and now…" He paused for he truly didn't know what they were anymore.

"And now… we are just acquaintances…" Caroline finished the sentence for him, in fact she was about to finish the whole conversation and leave, "Good bye Niklaus," She stood up putting on her coat and then rushed out of the bar.

Feeling like something crossed between fool and a jerk, he went after her. "Wait… Caroline, we may not have been the best of friends the last few centuries, but you have to admit that we can never be called acquaintances… especially after what happened between us in that Castle," He began to explain as he walked closer, and as soon as he said the words, he realized he may have made matters only worse.

"Leave me alone… " She pulled her long coat together as she began to move even faster than before.

He ran after her, "Caroline, listen… I think someone has compelled you to forget our little night together," He was hoping his speculations would make her stop.

She didn't stop, but slowed down a bit, "You're delusional!"

"Caroline!" He caught up to her and grabbed her by her arm.

She turned around throwing his hand off, "Why don't you try and come up with something better than some lame reason to get me to talk to you about our plans,"

"Caroline you need to believe me!" He was hoping she would give him a chance to explain.

After staring undecidedly for a second, she pushed him back, "Go away…"

The thrust only made him move his right foot backwards, "Ok let's say I'm delusional and it never happened… Then explain to me what you said about you being with me for a year," He wanted to know, he needed to know since the moment she told him. Now that he had the chance to probe it out of Caroline herself, now that it had come up somehow in their little harmless banter he was not going to let it go.

"I… It was…" She mumbled, she looked as if she was about to cry, "I don't remember…" She hid her lying face by turning around.

He looked on as she sighed with her back turned to him, "Don't lie to me, Katherina said that you…"

"Katherina? When did you talk to her? What have you done to her?" She quickly turned around.

"Nothing!" He stepped back, as a reflex maneuver to avoid Caroline's impending gaze.

She prodded her index finger to his chest, "If you hurt her…"

"Why do you care so much about her love?" He caught her finger before it could bury itself in to his chest.

She quickly and skillfully took her finger away. "She's my friend!"

"Friend?" However much he tried, the concept of Caroline considering a woman such as Katherina as a friend was out of his realm of understanding "Stefan is what you call a friend, albeit I've compelled him to be by your side… nevertheless … he is… he was back in the day… I assume… but… Katherina? She's a selfish woman who cares about no one but herself," He explained trying to understand the abysmal blue glaze that hovered in her eyes.

"I made a promise to her… I promised her I'll keep her safe from you," She said softly.

He laughed without giving it much thought, "You and your promises sweetheart… you make me laugh, but…" and she was leaving again, before he could even finish what he was about to say.

He went after her once more, she was a little more than a yard away from him, "Caroline wait…If I promised to let Katherina go… will you tell me what happened between us?"

"No!" She said in a firm voice.

"Consider it Caroline…. I'm not that fond of that brunette you keep calling a friend, and I just might lose my patience one day and tear her heart out, then you may fail to fulfill your promise yet again," He gave his last shot but she didn't respond or turn, she simply kept going.

He could have very easily compelled it out of her, but he would rather not know the truth at all if compelling her was the only way available to get to the truth.

He was about to go back to the grill when he heard her voice from behind, "Let her go first and I'll tell you…"


	9. The Weakness

**A/N: **Thanks for the Alerts, Favourites and Reviews, love you all for reading this story... Hope you enjoy this part... it's a bit short though...

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**The Weakness**

He was a fool to have thought he would be able to bargain with Caroline into telling him about his missing memory, he thought, as he turned to make his way towards The Grill again, hoping a glass of bourbon or perhaps some warm blood from a human would help him forget the weakening pain he felt spinning around in his head.

"Let her go first and I'll tell you…" Klaus stopped in his tracks hearing her demanding voice and for a half a second he thought he was hallucinating.

He turned to her, hiding his surprised expression with his usual self-righteous smile.

"I'll tell you…" She exhaled, "About the Blood Bond…" Caroline was looking down and her eyes were in no way planning to look up at him any moment soon.

"Blood Bond?" This time around he could not hold back his astonishment from taking over his face as he never would have thought in a billion years Caroline herself would willingly tell him about the 'Blood Bond'.

"Yes," She answered her face still hidden from him, her blonde hair covering up most of her face as she glared downwards.

"And why would you want to tell me about the Blood Bond when I asked you about the year that I supposedly can't remember?" He raised an eyebrow, trying to learn what was it about this so called memory that she was trying to hide, why was she prepared to tell him about the 'Blood Bond' instead; it boggled him.

"Do you want to know or not?" Her eyes were now set on him finally, her pupils dilating back and forth as if they were not sure what they were supposed to focus on, edges of her eyes wrinkled as she glared intently at him and they were filled with an abundant of mix emotions, Klaus could see them but could not read any of it.

"I do…" He replied simply, his gaze fixated on her fidgeting form, her hands that slid in to the pockets of her coat to hide from him.

"Good! Just as I thought… then I'll meet you at the Lockwood caves in fifteen minutes, bring Katherine with you!" She ordered pointing her finger at him, her eyes gazing at him for a moment before she vanished, running off into the night.

Klaus nodded, glowering at the spot where Caroline had stood.

It was as if a storm had hit him and had tossed him into somewhere far and unknown, for he was still not sure he actually heard her say, she'll tell him about the blood bond.

After stupidly waiting for few seconds in the middle of the road for no reason, he rushed off to Alaric Saltzman's' apartment to take Katherina along with him to the Lockwood property.

He dragged the compelled doppelganger out into the woods callously, for according to him she was never a one that deserved a gentle treatment.

He waited in front of the caves pacing, and time ticked ever too slowly, and for someone to whom time meant so little, it was a rear incident to find himself counting each second that passed, and he hated it utterly.

He tried to listen in on every sound hoping to catch her footsteps graze across the grassy ground but it was merely the hallow sounds that the caves made, which filled his ears. He was becoming increasingly restless by the second, for though it seemed he had arrived five minutes too early, to him it felt like he had been waiting for her for more than five hours.

Lockwood property, a part of the land he had walked around thousand years ago, still had the same eerie darkness about it; it still held that mysterious ambience that he had always felt back when he was human.

He looked back at Katherina who was compelled to stand under a tree behind him. The woman stood like a blood drained drone, only her blinking yet lackluster eyes gave away the fact she was not some kind of a zombie that was lurking in the woods.

The night somehow seemed particularly colder than usual as he waited for Caroline to come, he did not care about the cold yet he unconsciously tugged the coat together.

He felt a sudden gush of wind hit his back and the leaves ruffle madly around him, as if a mini cyclone had surrounded him. She was there and he could smell her presence, smell her ever inviting blood. "So are you ready to tell your little secret?" He put on his best arrogant smirk.

"Ah impatient as always," Caroline walked around to stand in front of him, the long black coat she had worn over the low cut outfit , flapped around as the harsh cold wind flowed amidst them.

"I simply want to get to the point," He smiled, trying to ignore the worn out expression that he had detected in Caroline's face. She didn't seem her spirited self for some reason and it bothered him, bothered him in ways he couldn't explain.

"Release her first!" She commanded trying to sound strong, but he caught the hurt in her voice.

"How do I know, you'd be telling me anything after I let her go?" He moved closer to Caroline, his eyes fixed on hers, wanting to read everything they may tell him, things she may not voice out; he went closer wanting to know what had been bothering her as so.

"You'd just have to trust me," She moved her head back a bit realizing their unnerving closeness.

He noticed her right fist seemed to be holding on to something, yet he couldn't clearly see as to what, but she was indeed holding on to it as if her dear life depended on it.

"I guess I have to" He turned to Katherina with a grin, "You can go sweetheart you are free,"

"Thank you, Caroline…" Katherina muttered still standing below the tree looking not so sure about what she should be doing, or whether she really was allowed to go.

"Get out of here now!" Caroline thundered to the confused doppelganger, her foot stomping on the green forest floor.

Katherina needed no more encouragement for she disappeared out of their scope in a flash, even before the sound of her leaving could reach their ears.

Then there was silence, except for the mini beasts that crawled on the grass making little croaking noises that he may not have heard if not being a vampire, there was barely any sound.

He twisted himself to get a good look at the blonde that was standing there in the middle of the woods with him, staring at him with her wide opened blue eyes.

"So what was it that you wanted to tell me Caroline?" He broke the peace, for it was becoming harder to listen to.

"Well," She closed her eyes as though she was trying to retrieve the right words from her head to start her story, and then she opened them again gently, "After you killed me and made me into a vampire…"

He felt a sting in his chest at her words, her words that he was more than sure was chosen and said deliberately to hurt him.

"I… I didn't know what I should do…" Caroline continued, her eyes staring at a tree to the left of her as she recalled what had happened thousand years ago, "Then I met Ayana…"

"Go on…" He said softy as if to reassure her that he was there with her.

"I told her what happened to me… I told her how you found me, when I was taking Tatia's daughter to safety," She breathed even though it wasn't necessary, "Anyway… I told her, I didn't want to be a monster,"

Klaus blinked, feeling his eyes prickle, his eyes desperately wanting to do something that he hadn't done in many years or may be even in centuries, for her words reminded him it was his fault that she was something she never wanted to be.

"Ayana told me, I could never be human again. She was going to cast some spell on me and before she did she said something like… it would've been better if the spell was cast when I was human, because then I would've died naturally and it would've been all over along with me. And apparently only my blood could be used for the spell she was going to cast. I didn't understand anything then, what spell she was going to do or why it had to be my blood… I wasn't in a condition to think straight," She babbled her gaze going up towards the stars for a second, "And she took my blood and cast some kind of a spell," Caroline turned around, no longer able to contain all the emotions she had been holding back, "I didn't know what she did at the time… but… then more than thousand years later, Alaric found these stupid markings inside this cave, he thinks it was written by Ayana, he thinks it's about the spell she did that day,"

Klaus's mind ran back to the translation he had found, the bit of words that he had read written over the markings in the note pad he still was carrying somewhere inside his coat.

She looked to have had gathered herself again, her voice sounded less broken as she began to speak once more, "Ric thinks… in that it says, that… it was my blood which was used to dormant your werewolf side… even though it was Tatia's that was used to make you a vampire," Caroline had stopped talking, for she had turned back around to gaze at him, to see what he thought of the new information she was coming forth with.

He rightfully looked back confused; the information was clearly too much to process, for all this while, for over a millennium, he had thought it was only the Petrova doppelganger that was used to suppress his werewolf side.

Caroline sighed, "Because that night… after they confronted you about you being a werewolf, your mother came to my home and made me promise something…" her eyes glanced back as she caught a sudden movement behind her.

Caroline carried on with her tale once she discovered it was merely the wind and the shadows which was playing around in the dark, "Your mother made me promise to take care of Tatia's child, and her children's children, and theirs as long as I live," She came closer towards him, "She wanted me to protect them from you… told me I'll be helping you by protecting them… and then when I agreed, she made a little cut on my palm and took my blood. I was told it was to bind my promise… but now it seems she had lied to me, it looks like she only took my blood for the sun and moon curse,"

Klaus' eyes naturally went to her palm as if he had thought the thousand year old little cut would still be there. The thought of Esther hurting her for the sake of some spell, made him hate his mother more. The animosity he had kept long hidden for the sake of the rest of the world he felt rise to the surface.

"Don't hate your mother so much Niklaus, she only wanted to make sure her children were safe," Caroline answered his stare as if she was reading his mind.

"But why are you telling me all this now, after all these years?" He couldn't understand what had changed so suddenly that made her want to bring up her past she so definitely hated to talk about, the reluctance to talk was written all over her face in fact.

"Because… that's not all what Ric thinks the markings means…" She barely managed to get the words out, "He thinks when you were a werewolf, you've chosen… me... " She gulped before she completed her sentence, "Me as your mate… and that's why my blood was used to dormant your werewolf side, that's why only my blood had to be used for Ayana's spell" She paused her hand slowly lifting as if it was about to touch him for a moment, but only to shy away and reside back beside her the next, "But I doubt that was the real reason though," She added nervously, with an uneasy smile that was meant to show how ridiculous she thought it all sounded.

He tried to ignore and not respond to the last part of her speech for he had no intention of complicating a rather compound explanation by bringing up new problems, so instead he focused more on his prevailing curse, "So what does this mean? Is it your blood I need to break the curse then?"

"No… both… but…" She shook her head, "But there's more…"

"More?" Klaus walked closer so that there was no more than a foot of space that kept them apart.

"Well... the spell that Ayana did... Ric believes, was done to bond my blood to you, she had bonded my life to you… and since you had no weakness… especially if one day you become a hybrid … she had made me your weakness," Caroline's eyes glared at the ground again, her feet moving back somewhat subconsciously.

"I don't follow you love," May be he did understand her, but he wasn't prepared to admit it.

"Since you can't be killed, she's bonded my life to you… so if someone kills me you would die too… and if you died I would too," She explained in one go, almost in an irritated tone, possibly irritated by the fact her life was bound to someone who had many enemies that wanted him dead.

"So if someone had killed you… if I had killed you I would've died?" Klaus could not wrap his mind around the whole thing, for all this time he had been walking around so high and mightily thinking he was indestructible, he was invincible, when he had a weakness that could've easily gotten him killed, moreover though it was highly unlikely, virtually impossible she too could've just as easily died if someone had succeeded in one of their many plots to kill him.

"I guess… If Ric was right… that seemed to have been Ayana's idea," She shrugged trying to act nonchalant, but her tense hand that fixed a strand of hair that had gone out of place told him otherwise.

As every word she uttered harassed every cell in his brain, Klaus unintentionally had raced forward, may be wanting to ignore the ragged pound he had thought he heard in his chest.

She ran backwards as he advanced, she moved back until her back hit some tree trunk, making its roots shake and branches move about showering both of them with a few yellowy leaves.

"But it still doesn't explain why you are telling me all this," He had her trapped against the tree in no time. His right hand catching her left, and the other holding her by the shoulder, "Last night you were all for drowning me, and now you are telling me that if I die you die too? That 'You' are my weakness? That I need you to break my curse? Don't you think It's a little bit hard to believe love?"

"We were never going to kill you… at least from what I know, Stefan and Alaric were against it," Caroline mumbled.

"And you were not? In spite of knowing you could die along with me?" He was mad, how could she have wanted to kill him so badly that she was willing to give up her own life.

"Not me…. The others… Bonnie and Damon, Elena's brother… not to mention the whole of the town council," She was looking at him as if she was pleading for something.

"So this is why you were so eager to let me know about the blood bond? Because, they could be after you now as we speak? Because, you know when bad comes to worse your so called friends will turn on you to save their precious human? Because you're scared for your life?" He breathed on her neck and he could see her tremble, her eyes attempting to avoid him, struggling to move away.

"Think what you want Niklaus," She whimpered, her voice coarse and low, for he wanting to catch her scent was pressing against her smooth curves, for he wanting to taste her was letting his mouth linger dangerously close to her neck.

She stopped trying to wriggle altogether as she may have discovered the more she tried to squirm her way out of his hold, the more he began to push his weight on to her.

"How do I know this's not some lie you made up to make sure I'd never kill you?" Klaus whispered in to her ear.

Caroline shifted her face to meet his, "Why would I need to make up some lie because I know you'd never kill me anyway, Niklaus! You can't and won't kill me!"

"Are you sure? Because, you said it yourself that I was the one who killed you and made you a vampire?" He responded his mouth yearning to touch her skin, his voice husky as he felt her chest heave against his.

"I… I don't think you meant to…" She released the words with a breath and it struck him as if a stake hit his icy heart, "May be I was stupid enough to think you did back then, but…" Caroline confessed her eyes searching for his.

His hands had unknowingly slid down, and were clasping her by her hips; He could feel her shiver slightly and lean more towards the tree behind. "I hope you're not lying about this… because if you are sweetheart, then I'd be more than glad to prove how wrong you are about me. I will kill you! make no mistake of it,"

She held up her hand at him, and opened her palm, "Here, take this,"

Some sort of a crumpled paper she had been holding on to for a while revealed itself.

His eyes ran between the blonde and the paper one more time, before he pulled back, away from her just to take the paper.

"I thought you'd believe my words more than reading some translation, I don't know if he's right... but this is Ric's translation," She slowly stepped to the side.

He opened up the wrinkled paper and ran his palm on it trying to smooth out the wild creasers it was infested with.

He saw the same marking upon the paper he had found at Alaric's place, yet this time the full revised translation was written above all of the symbols, "_Bond of Blood, the one that joins Niklaus and the one who he has chosen to be his mate, the one whose blood bound him to the curse of the sun and moon, Caroline… She shall be his only weakness… if one dies so does the other… She shall be the one whose blood shall help breed his own kind, creatures both hated by sun and the moon," _He read the last line again and again. So if he was to make hybrids he needed her blood, how had he not known any of this he could not believe, he had been on a painstaking search for the doppelganger and the moonstone not knowing a third ingredient was needed to break the curse.

"Is this true?" He looked up but Caroline had already left.

He stared at the paper once more and put it into his pocket.

He had no clue whether Alaric Saltzman's assessment was true, but he decided to chase after her nevertheless.

He ran through the forest, he knew not where she had gone but he trusted his feet to somehow guide him to her; he'd always had a sixth sense when it came to her, he believed.

He found her not so far away, "Caroline,"

"I told you everything I know," She stopped as if a fish suddenly grappled by a hook.

"You did… and that's why I can't let you go," He ran forward and gave her no chance to turn back and run, for he had grabbed her by the hips and hauled her over his shoulder.

"Where are you taking me? Put me down!" she was throwing her hands and legs around, but he not even for a second would let her go.

"You came to me for protection Caroline, don't deny it…" He walked casually grabbing on to her legs tightly, "Even if you didn't I can't let you just run around putting my life on danger," He smirked.

"I can take care of myself," She grumbled, grunted to no avail.

"If you could… you wouldn't have come to me… You are too proud and stubborn to ask for my help directly," Klaus darted off without giving the blonde he was carrying much time to respond or say anything more than a 'Let me go!'


	10. The Reunion

**A/N: **_Thanks for reading the story and reviewing and Alerts and favourites_.

justine, thanks for your review, all your lovely reviews actually, and you asked about the blood line... No one in the mystic falls gang still knows whose blood line they belong to or what would happen when their originator dies, but I haven't decided yet who will be their originator or how will they find out or how it would play out in this story, I only have a very rough idea about how I'm going to use it.

_Hope you all will enjoy this one!_

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**The Reunion**

After unlocking few seemingly hefty padlocks, Klaus slid opened a large iron door. He gently put Caroline down making sure that her wrist was still tightly in his hold, so that she wouldn't try to escape.

After the half an hour or so of futile attempts, especially after she tried to secretly dial her phone to let her whereabouts be known to her friends and getting her phone thrown out in the process, it seemed she had finally given up on trying to run away, though maybe not completely, but still, she seemed to have given up on the struggle for a brief moment, for she seemed much more relaxed and prepared to cooperate.

On the other hand Klaus was far from being relaxed for he as always was not certain whether everything, whether Caroline telling him about the blood bond, meeting by the woods alone just to save Katherine, or giving up on trying to flee, was all an act, a part of a much larger plan or not.

"What _is_ this place? Why did you bring me here?" Caroline was complaining more than she was actually asking as she peeped into the dark room standing in its doorway.

Klaus walked into the gloomy room that smelt like dust, drawing Caroline in with him by her wrist, making sure she would not be more than just a half a step behind, "You see sweetheart, whenever I have any sort of disagreement with any of my family members, I dagger them and keep them in a safe place. Until I think they've had enough time to calm down and come to their senses…"

"You mean to say, when you've had enough time to realize, how stupid you've been to have them daggered in the first place?" Caroline shook her head to express how disappointed she was with the way he had dealt with his sibling issues and to let him know how senseless she thought it all was.

Klaus rolled his eyes as he ran his free hand on the wall beside him searching for the lights, "Toe-MAY-toe, toe-MAH-toe," He muttered.

Caroline huffed at his response, and he sneered in return, turning the lights on after finally coming across the switch.

Though now they could see more clearly what lay inside, the lights truly didn't make that much of a difference to its grey and cold interior, for the light that illuminated through them were dim and amber, moreover there were not enough bulbs to begin with to completely light up the not that big, yet not that small warehouse which had nothing but a table on one side and four wooden boxes aligned against a wall on the other side.

Klaus along with Caroline went over to one of the large boxes, his hand never leaving her wrist.

"How long are you going to keep me like this?" Caroline lifted their jointed hands shooting an annoyed glance at Klaus.

"Until I'm sure you won't leave me…" His words he found were trying to say things he would've rather had kept to himself, "And… get yourself killed, and get me killed in the process," He added few more words promptly so that his previous words would not have looked as if he was trying to mean something else altogether.

Caroline tried to free herself, twisting her wrist, "Like I said I can take care of myself," But it was of no use, he only held onto her with more vigor as he walked.

"Well I'm not about to risk it," He tore opened one of the covers off of a box and threw it behind him, making the sound of wood hitting the cold cement floor run into every corner of the room.

Caroline brought up her other hand trying to strike him, apparently she seemed to have thought it was the perfect time for her to execute her contingency plan, but he as if he had been anticipating it for ages reacted without even looking, without a thought.

He had brought Caroline's hand behind her by spinning her around so that he would be standing with her back resting on his chest, "Nah ah ah, Caroline, you and I both know fighting will only lead to me winning and you getting hurt," He smirked wickedly leaning closer to her right ear, letting her imagination come up with few different ways he could hurt her.

She once more proved herself of being a worthy adversary for though she couldn't release herself from his grip, she had managed to get herself out of the knot he had made out of her, and turn around and glare at his face growling, "Are you going to dagger me and put me in a coffin to make sure I don't accidently stake myself and kill you?" She ridiculed, her eyes rolling to the side conveniently, so that her gaze was set on the very finely made dark brown coffin that was inside the wooden box, rather than upon his scrutinizing eyes.

"Not if you behave…" He breathed out in a low voice, "But even then it wouldn't work on you love, you're not one of us, you can't be daggered and kept in a box like this! Believe me, that would've been easier for both of us," With a gloating grin well placed on his lips, a grin which he knew Caroline's face would at once cringe in detest, he opened the coffin lid gently.

As the coffin opened with a screech, strangely smelling like some kind of a concoction of death and lavender, Klaus thought he heard a faint grumbling from Caroline, as if she was protesting to what he had said, and it naturally made his smile wider.

Caroline was squinting at the person she had found in the coffin.

It was Rebekah, her skin dried out, her veins blue, and black, her hair lifeless. She was sleeping or rather looking very dead, wrinkled and grey within what seemed to be a very comfortable coffin. She was wearing the same dress she had on when she was at the Speakeasy, but with a brown, years old blood stain on her chest, around the ancient looking dagger that was tuck deeply into her, and neither Caroline nor Klaus missed Rebekah's frozen expression which was one of surprise and betrayal.

"That's the creepiest thing I've ever seen in my entire life! And believe me I've lived long enough to see my share of creepy stuff," Caroline babbled her index finger daring to touch the scaly skin of Rebekah's arm, but falling back in fear or may be in repulsion.

Though Klaus somewhat enjoyed the less guarded manner those words came out of Caroline's mouth, he was irritated at her words just the same, for he thought she was calling him a 'creep' indirectly for hoarding his siblings like so.

He showed no mercy even to his favorite daggered and temporarily dead sister, for his anger towards Caroline's words made him pull the dagger out of Rebekah's chest forcefully.

He put the dagger in his coat and moved on to the next box and opened it to reveal a second coffin, where apparently Finn was, and took out the dagger out of his heart as well; all the while making sure Caroline had no room to free herself.

Then he moved to the third one, and opened its lid.

"Do you think it'll be wise to wake them all up at the same time? Won't they wake up wanting to kill you or something?" Caroline asked just as he was above to take the dagger off of Kol who was lying in the third box.

"It's not like they can actually kill me," He pulled the dagger out of his younger brother showing off a wryly smile.

Caroline cleared her throat, "Well…" She alluded to herself with her hand pointing at her face.

Klaus smirked a tad, at her teasing gesture, "Of course how can I forget my one and only 'weakness', If you die I die vice versa…" He sang raising his brows at her, "But the thing is none of them know of it, So I think we both will be safe," He let his tone keep the light mood going, for in a way they both seemed to have felt the silliness of all the curses and blood bond spells they seemed to be involved in, each one worse than the other. As if they were some plots in one of those books that teenagers seemed to love and worship these days, plots that were created only to complicate the lives of its main characters.

"Fair point…" Caroline affirmed with a smile and a nod, "So… who's in the last box?" She pointed at the last one in the corner.

He found the lightness he had felt just a while go start to disappear with her questioning, "No one you should concern yourself with," Klaus said threateningly, tugging her by her wrist.

"Is it Elijah?" Caroline seemed very concerned; too concerned in fact for his liking.

"For your information my dear noble brother Elijah is alive and well… and to tell you the truth it was Elijah's grand idea to wake up all of my siblings," Klaus walked in front, dragging the reluctant Caroline towards the considerably lengthy table on the other corner of the room.

"And you decided that you have to do it right now? While you're holding me captive?" Caroline mumbled as she followed him closely, once or twice trying to get her hand loose.

"Some things just shouldn't be prolonged, especially when you have an older brother threatening you to. Especially when there are issues that need immediate resolving," He stopped in front of the table turning around to watch the coffins as he leaned against it, and then he brought Caroline around to stand next to him.

"So what do we do now?" Caroline sat herself upon the table, her feet dangling and swinging about, with her hand still in Klaus's clutch, her eyes still glaring at the fourth box, of to which he provided no clear explanation.

Klaus too sat on the table, next to her, their adjoined hands resting in the middle. "Now… we wait,"

She nodded as if a small child obeying her teacher, her lips pouted hating the wait already; possibly hating the fact that she had to wait while he tightly gripped her wrist.

She made one last attempt to get out of his hold by yanking her hand, but he barely let the hand move.

She sighed disappointed at her own frail attempts and stared emptily at the coffins.

As they waited, the silence grew, the dimness, the cold grew, but most of all the awkwardness between them grew like wildfire.

"Well…Stefan's going to be pissed that you kidnapped me," Caroline said out of the blue; a ploy, certainly to forget the discomfiture.

"Do you think I care?" Klaus snarled watching the caskets eagerly, not even the least interested in hearing anything related to Stefan. The brooding fellow may have been Caroline's friend, and he himself may have compelled the young vampire to be glued to her for all eternity for some stupid, and what he now suspected as some irrational reason that he couldn't bear to try and remember at that moment, however that didn't by any means meant he was stupid enough to give a damn about hearing how angry Stefan was or would be.

"But I care! Because he told me this was a stupid plan. He wanted to come with me, but I told him he should keep an eye on Bonnie and the gang to see what they are planning to do to me… He told me this is exactly what would happen if I go alone. I should've listened to him!" She rambled, her voice filled with regret.

"So it was a plan after all, huh? Telling me all of this? So what did _you_ think will happen?" Klaus suddenly looked at her intrigued, awfully eager to hear what she may have wanted to transpire between them.

"Well not this obviously," She gestured at her wrist that Klaus had in his grasp.

He only held her wrist harder as he turned to look at her, "Then what?"

"Something more… more grown up… talk and come to some kind of an understanding… an agreement? I wanted to let you know that you are not indestructible like you think you are. I didn't come to meet you to get myself kidnapped, just so you could protect me. I wasn't _that_ desperate," She swung her legs about, though she was all about being grown up, Klaus could not help but notice the childish nature in her, the kid like tone in her voice. It oddly reminded him of the days they used to sit by the stream and talk looking at the skyline.

"We still have time to come to an agreement. That is if you still want to," His brows curved as he waited for her answer; he stared into her blue eyes, her perfectly shaped face waiting.

"How about… I swear if you take your hands off from mine, I won't run away and die, if you swear not to kill the doppelganger," Caroline smiled sheepishly, batting her eye lashes.

Klaus coughed, "That's a bit too much to ask don't you think?"

"No! I think it sounds perfectly fair, our freedom for your life," She passed a playful grin, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

A sniffy smile came upon his lips as he looked up at the ceiling.

Then suddenly his smile vanished, as if he had had some kind of an epiphany, actually he felt that he may have found another thorn in his path, "Come to think of it, I think there's another little complication. From what I know, the doppelganger's blood needs to be drained and she should be killed to break the curse. So I might have to do the same…"

She cut him off, "Don't you even dare try to drain my blood and then kill me to break your stupid curse, Niklaus!" She puffed loudly.

"I wouldn't dream of it, not that I wouldn't enjoy it…" He licked his lips unconsciously thinking about how her blood would taste in his tongue, how it would feel when it glided down his throat to his insides, "Because you know that little blood bond thing we have, it prevents me from killing you," He mocked.

"And you better remember that!" She threatened, and Klaus nodded at once as if he feared to see her wrath unfolded.

"So does it mean you'll be considering giving upon breaking the curse, if you'd have to kill me to break it? Considering you might die and all?" Caroline asked gently as if she was visualizing him saying, '_Yes'_.

"Never…" Klaus could see all Caroline's hopes shatter hearing his one word, "There's always a way around things. Besides we still don't know if this…" His eyes went to his hand that was fastened around hers, "If what Alaric found out was true! So my personal Warlock Martin is working on finding the meaning of the markings as we speak... " His forehead creased, "And come to think of it, if I anyway need your blood to make hybrids surely it must mean that I don't have to kill you to break the curse. May be I just need a little sip from you," True, he was talking about him needing a sip of blood to break the curse yet his head unknowingly had lowered, his slightly parted mouth had started to move towards the naked skin on her neck that he had suddenly noticed was no longer veiled by her curly blonde hair; he was moving towards her wanting to taste her blood right then and there.

He vaguely saw her close her eyes, possibly anticipating his teeth to pierce through her skin, or probably anticipating something else, nevertheless his eyes too closed naturally.

His grip on her became almost nonexistent, for his hand was yearning to roam through her arm to reach her soft cheeks.

"You know I could probably escape right now," She said noticing he wasn't holding her hand as tightly, yet she hadn't tried to run or move.

"Probably," He answered, a smile tingling on his lips at her empty threat.

"Nik?" she called him softly in a whisper.

"Hmmm?" He was millimeters away from touching her skin, she probably may have uttered his name to stop his advances, but he was more inclined to take the shorten version of his name coming out of her mouth as an invite.

"What really happened between us in India?" Caroline slurred.

Klaus' eyes opened suddenly, he exhaled. He'd been waiting to confront her about it for so long, but now, as he was about to taste her, he thought it was not the time to have that talk.

"What really happened?" She was staring at him, blinking as she tried to read him.

His eyes locked into her, strapping his hand around her wrist completely forgotten, "That's one of the many reasons I'm waking up…"

"Kol!" Caroline turned and shrieked; her eyes wide in surprise.

When Klaus turned around he saw Kol standing next to the coffin he had been resting. The clothes he had on that looked like they were from the early seventeen hundreds making him look slightly mature, as he bowed with his mocking smile spread across his face.

"Hello Nik… and Caroline," Kol flashed towards them, and shoved Klaus off the table, making him hit the grey wall behind.

Klaus got up at once, unscathed, unruffled, fixing his coat, "Hello Kol, that's a nice way to greet your older brother, who you should actually be thanking…"

"Thanking you?" Kol walked haughtily towards Klaus.

"Why yes! If it weren't for me those witches you'd been running around with in New Orleans may have killed you…" Klaus sneered, not in any way rattled by his younger brother.

Caroline was standing somewhat behind, may be forgetting to run away amidst the pandemonium, maybe she was never planning to. Either way she was just reduced to being a spectator to the whole Mikaelson family drama, as a matter of fact it may have been nothing new to her for she was one of the very few privileged to have seen and become accustomed to seeing the Mikaelson brothers trying to bite their heads off. Albeit they were all human then, but she seemed to know that eventually they always worked things out, most of the time.

"They wouldn't have! You're lying, they were my friends… and anyway why would you care? Why would you care about anything other than yourself and your curse?" Kol ran towards Klaus, his hand reaching out to grab his neck.

Yet it was Klaus who had managed to strangle Kol lifting him up into the air, "Why wouldn't I care? You are my brother... however insolent and irresponsible you may be!"

"What a great brother you are Nik, You stab your siblings whenever you don't get your way with them," Rebekah was standing behind the three of them, her stare at once moving to the other blonde girl in the room, "What the hell is she doing here? Where's Stefan?"

"Stefan is safe and well, and as for why I'm here… you should probably ask your brother," Caroline had her hands on her hips, fully ready for anything Rebekah may try to pull.

Rebekah narrowed her eyes at Caroline before she stomped her way towards Klaus who was still holding Kol by the neck. "Nik? What the hell is going on?"

"Why don't you two just calm down and we'll sort everything out like adults," Klaus finally tossed Kol away to the ground.

"Like adults? I remember trying to talk to you like an adult and look where it has gotten me? Daggered and trapped in some coffin… God knows for how long!" Rebekah plunged herself at Klaus, but he was fast enough to run around her and stand behind her.

From the corner of his eyes Klaus could see Caroline move towards him, as if she wanted to offer some kind of help, but he was in too much of a haste to turn and actually see whether his heedless brain wasn't deceiving him.

"Stop this all of you!" They all froze at the sound of their eldest brother Finn and turned around.

"I don't know why Niklaus had done this to us… I'm sure there's a perfectly understandable reason behind it… which we surely can calm down and discuss later," It seemed a threat hidden in a set of very noble sounding words, for Finn walked around with a glare pointed at Klaus.

Kol disregarding with Finn's request heaved his fist at Klaus, to which Klaus got ready by putting his arms over his chest in defense.

"Kol!" Finn had caught Kol by his collar from behind before Kol could make any contact with Klaus, "Stop this now!" He demanded, his scowling eyes directed towards his sister who seemed to be planning her next move.

Both the youngest siblings grumbled with their glower set on Klaus.

"If not for Finn… " Kol muttered in a low voice before he scurried out of the warehouse.

Rebekah followed Kol, scoffing as she went pass Klaus.

"Where's Elijah? Was he the only one spared?" Finn asked gently walking across to his brother who was standing looking guilty as they come.

"He'll meet us soon…" Klaus nodded his head, his eyes casted to the ground.

"So let's get going then," Finn strolled out leisurely, acknowledging Caroline with a pleasant smile.

Klaus looked back at the remaining box feeling fortunate that none of his siblings seemed to have noticed it, or else he knew they would have asked questions that most probably would have made him want them to be daggered again, "Time to go Caroline," He dashed his way towards her and gripped her by the wrist again, trying not to look her straight in the eye, for he could swear he caught a bit of care in her eyes in that one moment he mistakenly looked at her.

Once Klaus took himself and Caroline out of the warehouse he closed its doors, taking a mental note to put the remaining coffin some other place when the little welcome party had come to an end.

Klaus found his siblings standing around in front of the warehouse, Rebekah with her arms folded fuming and Kol looking at the long road that lay in front.

"I told them we should at least try to get along, let bygones be bygones. We are family after all," Finn spoke, patting Klaus on his back.

Kol took off his old fashioned coat and kept it hung over his shoulder, and he didn't bother to hide his clear dislike about being in the same vicinity as his brother that had stabbed him through his very apathetic tone, "So where to my _dear_ brother?"

"I guess we'll have to find some place that suits us all," There was no way in hell all Klaus' siblings and Caroline could fit into that small apartment that Klaus had been living for the past few days, for it was more than likely they would butt heads with each other, for the smaller the space they were in, more room for their egos to collide, and in any case Alaric Saltzman's house was only a temporary arrangement.

Klaus walked towards the road with Caroline, there was no vehicle in sight, no house they could crash, only a few old factories that had taken up most of the land around them. The factories were barren, and seemed untouched and abandoned for ages, as they were made in a time when Mystic Falls was trying to make itself be known as a blooming industrial town, which by the looks of it clearly had not worked out.

"Am I seeing things? Are you two actually holding hands?" Rebekah was heard asking as she walked behind him.

"It's a long story," Klaus sighed looking back at his sister who was waiting for an explanation, staring at their bond.

"I bet," Rebekah frowned, her stare falling at Caroline.

Rebekah's hatred towards Caroline that spawned that night at the speakeasy seemed to have resurfaced.

"Look! I think a carriage is approaching us," Thankfully Kol's shouting interrupted the two blondes who seemed as if they were about to go off at each other if they had a second more to stare.

"A Carriage? I think it's a limo! Since when did Carriages have headlights? Oh I forgot you slept through the whole industrial revolution bit," With a scornful laugh Caroline corrected the Original who may have been in a coffin for a well over couple of centuries to have seen any sort of modern automobile.

Kol was not even remotely happy about Caroline's little snicker, for everyone could hear him gritting his teeth as he kicked a stone that ultimately ended up on the other side of the road. "Caroline Archer, You used to be nice, and for your information I was there when they rolled out the first non-horse driven vehicle," He muttered angrily.

Before Caroline could respond to Kol or before any of them could count to one Rebekah had dashed towards the road and was standing in the middle of the road trying to stop the limousine that was heading their way.

The elongated car halted just a yard or so in front of the blonde, "Do I need to give you an invitation too?" She glared at her brothers who were simply standing about staring at her.

"Hey lady what do you think you're doing?" The driver pulled down the shutter and shouted sticking his head through it.

Rebekah quickly went across and put her hand through the window and caught the driver by the collar of the black coat he was wearing, "Just keep your mouth shut and drive when I tell you!" She compelled the man and shoved him back to the seat.

"Get in!" Rebekah ordered, before she went around and sat on the seat next to the driver's.

Klaus opened one of the back doors, not forgetting his blonde captive of course.

Inside he discovered a couple. The girl was hardly dressed, she was in her lingerie while the man was just about to undo his pants. From the way they were behaving as Klaus opened the door, as if their big secret had been found out, it was clear that they were not husband and wife, almost certainly it was a man with his mistress. For there was something about them that didn't look right, for the man probably was in his late fifties while the woman looked barely a woman, barely legal.

"What the hell is happening? Who the hell are you?" The man asked as he reached for his phone from his pocket.

The woman quickly covered herself by her dress up, which had been dangling on her ankles.

After much hassle Kol opened the door on the other side, "Sorry to interrupt your little tryst with your lovely lady, but we need a ride…" He threw his coat inside, onto the seat.

The man put his arm around the woman next to him as if to protect her, "I'm going to call the police!"

Klaus pulled the phone out of the man's hand and crushed it like it was a sheet of paper, "Oh shut up and scoot over," Then he got in dragging Caroline along, "Come on in love," He sat in the seat next to the man with Caroline seated next to the door.

"Both of you be quiet, don't try to run! Stay still," Kol compelled the couple as he sat in front of them, "Even without a drop of blood in my system I've still got a little bit of compulsion power left in me, that's good to know," Kol eyed Caroline as if he was envisioning on compelling her, at least that was what Klaus felt his younger brother's eyeing of his captive meant. Klaus was looking for clues in every little thing Kol did hoping they may lead him to find out if Kol was the one responsible for Caroline's memory about the little incident in India being wiped out.

Finn too got in with a frown, not too pleased about the proceedings but deciding to go along with it nonetheless, after all it was his idea in the first place to be a family once again, and he knew there was only so much he could convince them to do or not to do.

Rebekah commanded the driver to take off.

"Ah... I'm so hungry, I haven't eaten in…" Kol looked as if he was mentally counting the years he'd been daggered, but he seemed to have given up for he had no knowledge of what year it was now, " I don't know for how long but it feels like centuries," Kol grabbed the young woman sitting in front of him harshly so that she would land on his lap.

He dove into the woman's neck without a delay.

Kol gasped in excitement after the very first taste, and then whispered into the young woman's neck. "It's been a very long time since I last held a woman in my hand… you are actually not the kind of woman I usually go for, but you'll do for now,"

His hands ran along in every curve of the woman's body, his lips attacking hers before he pierced the skin on her neck again to drink her blood.

"Just because you're hungry that doesn't mean you need act like some kind of a savage animal!" Finn disgusted with his youngest brother's methods looked away towards the woman's lover who was sitting completely frozen unable to get a word out or do anything.

The scene that was happening in front of Klaus was not something he wasn't used to, but as he sat next to Caroline his hand knotted around her wrists, he was feeling more than just awkward; he was feeling the need to do the same to the woman who he had been holding prisoner, for the smell of her hit his nose whenever she twitched even the slightest bit. He wished he could bring himself to compel her to stay just for the sake of his sanity so that he no longer had to feel her warm skin below his hand, burning him.

She was supposed to mean nothing to him, nothing other than being his weakness, but every time he tried to remind himself of it, he felt a liar.

He glanced towards her, and saw that she seemed equally self-conscious as for her cheeks were rose red, but she was looking straight ahead to seem she hadn't noticed anything that made her be uncomfortable, but he knew, he knew that she felt the same, whatever it was.

"Where are we exactly?" Rebekah seemed to have found a new toy for she was opening and closing the little shutter that separated the front of the Limousine to the back.

"The Forgotten side of Mystic Falls," Klaus stated, slightly annoyed that Bekah wouldn't stop playing with the little screen.

"Mystic Falls?" Rebekah was so excited at Klaus' answer she stopped playing with the screen and kept it open. "Does that mean we could go to our place?"

"What do you mean our place?" Kol who had finally managed to take his mouth out of the woman's neck he had been suckling on, looked at his sister.

"In the late eighteenth century if I remember correctly, Nik made a little mansion for us to say. We couldn't live there for that long, because father found us, and we had to leave. It was the most beautiful place I've ever lived in," Rebekah explained her eyes filled with wonderment, a one that a child gets when speaking about their favorite fairy tale.

"Which reminds me, where is our 'ever persistent his own children hating father'?" Kol threw the somewhat unconscious woman back at her lover.

"Kol!" Finn shouted both at his words and actions.

"What? I'm saying it as it is Finn," He shrugged wiping his bloody mouth with the back of his hand.

Klaus felt a pain, a soreness come over him, "We don't need to worry about Mikael anymore, some clever witches have made sure that he's locked away for good," He grabbed on to Caroline's hand harder, not because she was his prisoner, but because he was seeking out some kind of comfort from the contact.

He could see her eyes stare, but he ignored her, ignored her woe filled eyes.

"That's the best news I've heard the whole day," Kol smiled.

"So what do you say Nik? Shall we go to our old place in Mystic Falls?" Rebekah pursed her lips.

"Bekah I hardly think that it would be in a condition for us to live," Klaus had many things he had to take care of, renovating a centuries old house was not even on the list. He much rather find a peaceful place that was ready-made, well maintained and hopefully tailored to their needs.

"Please Nik… Please… please… we could at least have a look and see how it is. You owe me that much for daggering me," As always she put on her puppy dog eyes look.

"Very well then, just to have a look…" He agreed, or else he knew he wouldn't hear the end of it, and at least he thought, it would make Rebekah look pass the fact he had daggered her.

Caroline snorted out a laugh, her head shaking and looking out the window.

"What?" Klaus demanded to know the reason for the smirk she had on her face.

"Thousand years have gone… but some things never change," She answered her smile widening, seeing Rebekah looking at her as if she was ready to eat her.

"I can see that," Kol remarked, his eyes mockingly gazing at the way Klaus gripped Caroline's hand.

Both Klaus and Caroline followed Kol's gaze and learnt what he had been hinting at, their eyes eventually getting caught with each other's.

"So Caroline, how has my brother been treating you? The last I remember you two were at odds with each other," Finn teased, he rarely did, and Klaus could not be more thankful for his brother Finn than at that moment for he helped him break off the spell he thought Caroline was beginning to cast on him.

"I think it's time for that long story you were going to tell about how you came to be holding hands, isn't it Nik?" Rebekah said in a voice as scornful as ever as she watched them with narrowed eyes, setting her hair back to make sure her ears were ready to hear the story.

"I'm guessing you won't believe me if I said, that after thousand years I realized she is my soul mate?" Klaus mocked, for he hoped his siblings would let the issue pass, for he was not quite sure whether he could trust them with the information on which he himself was still getting his head around.

"Well I won't call it a farfetched possibility, but seeing it's just you who's holding her by her wrist, and she's not looking exactly what you call comfortable, I don't think that's it," Kol was looking at them his finger pointing at their joined hands, before coughing out four more muffled words, "At least not yet,"

While Caroline huffed, Klaus rolled his eyes at his brother's speculations, "It has come to my knowledge," Klaus paused looking at the family who were eyeing him curiously, thinking whether the people who he had stabbed would not return the gesture, whether they could be trusted not to use her, his weakness against him.

Klaus looked at Caroline, he didn't know why, but when she nodded back silently, he felt that he had gotten the approval he needed from her to go about telling the story behind the hand holding situation. Thus he continued, "Our mother's friend Ayana, had made a blood binding spell on Caroline. So that our lives depended on the other, if I die she dies and if she dies I die. And …" He stopped, thinking that their siblings did not need to know beyond that; they did not need to know that her blood was used to dormant his werewolf side, why it was her blood that was used and about the fact that he needed her to break the curse. They should know only what he wanted them to know, he decided and in any case he thought, all of the information was still mostly assumptions made by a twenty first century history teacher with a bit of a passion for being a vampire hunter, "And thus the hand holding," he concluded.

Klaus seemed to have rendered the ever nattering Mikaelson siblings speechless, for a moment.

Only the compelled humans sat uninterested by Klaus's explanation.

"What? How?" Rebekah finally babbled incoherently her green eyes glaring at Caroline, who Klaus caught biting her lower lip, with her eyes shifting left to right as though she was contemplating whether she should answer Rebekah's questions or not.

Caroline's little motions with her mouth made him feel restless; he maneuvered her eyes out of the window next to her, "Stop the Car!" Klaus shouted as his eyes caught the moving scenery outside.

"Stop!" Rebekah ordered the driver beside her.

He hit the brakes, at once making the human couple fall down.

Kol grudgingly picked the woman back up and placed her on the seat, "Why did we stop suddenly?"

"Are we there?" Finn placed the young woman's very much older lover next to her.

"I think so, if my memory serves me right…" Klaus opened the door and let Caroline get off first and he followed her, holding her forearm.

"Stay here!" Rebekah gave the driver a stern warning before getting out.

"I don't see anything," Caroline took a few steps forward.

She had taken the lead and was dragging Klaus along as she searched around for the so called magnificent house they used to live.

"You need to know what you're looking for to find it love," Klaus uttered as he took the lead again, passing her a smile and walked her towards the trees.

Caroline frowned, and started to stubbornly slow down her pace.

Klaus turned around to just to look at her whiny face before dragging her forward more firmly.

"Where in the world is this house?" Kol was following them.

Rebekah shoved him aside, "Why can't you just be quiet for one second?"

"Why can't you?" Kol shoved her back, making her step on a puddle of mud and getting her already blood stained dress, become patterned with grime.

"How dare you?" Rebekah retorted, moving closer to hit her brother on the face.

"Enough you two!" Finn warned as he walked in between them breaking them apart before they started fighting with each other while bringing down few innocent trees along with them.

"Now you understand why I daggered them don't you?" Klaus laughed loudly looking at Finn who had managed to join him in front.

Finn simply shook his head, and turned his attention to Caroline who was lagging a bit behind, "Caroline, I know under the circumstances my idiot brother Niklaus here might consider you a prisoner, but you should know I'll always see you as the Caroline Archer that my brother so dearly cared for thousand years ago. So I hope you'd not think twice to ask me for anything,"

"May be you can convince your brother to let me go?" Caroline watched the eldest Mikaelson keenly.

"You're asking me to do the one thing I'm certain neither I nor anyone else in the world could ever convince my brother to do," Finn eyed Klaus who seemed to be pondering about daggering him once again.

"Well, It was worth a try," Caroline sighed looking disappointedly at Finn.

"I think I can see the gate!" Rebekah ran forward passing everyone and stood in front of what looked like a wall covered with vines and shrubs of every kind, the rusted gate which barely came to view had masked itself by thorns knotted around blood red roses.

Rebekah eagerly pushed the gate, it refused to budge against her gentle push the first time, but she shoved it again and the decaying gate came ajar.

The twilight above was not kind enough to help them see anything farther than what laid few feet in front of them.

They all stepped inside tentatively, Klaus more tentative than the others.

Wind rushing through them cleared up the leaves on the path that was made to lead its guests to the mansion.

Finn casually walked ahead as a mob of bats flew between the other four as they walked forward, Rebekah shrieked as one of them flew flapping its wings close to her ear.

Klaus heard a muffled yelp out of Caroline and he discovered that she was unintentionally tagging closer to him.

"Girls," Kol looked at the two blondes pitifully, "Aren't you two vampires?"

Rebekah huffed, the dusky sky enhancing the red in her fuming face.

"That doesn't make those things look less hideous! Just like you being a vampire doesn't make you look less of an idiot," Caroline retorted, glaring at the brown haired Mikaelson who didn't forget to put on a smirk akin to what his brother Klaus had on.

"Well said Caroline," Rebekah shouted and she seemed to have joined forces with Caroline, who not so long ago she was glaring wickedly at, just to annoy Kol.

"Nik, if you can't bring yourself to compel her, why don't you let me compel her to keep her beautiful mouth closed and not run away," Kol came closer to Caroline, his lively eyes staring at her.

Klaus positioned himself between Kol and Caroline, and let his clenched jaws answer Kol. The more he looked at Kol the more guilty the young one looked, Klaus thought.

"I was simply trying to help, no need to show your 'I'm going to pull out your liver' face to me," Kol walked away not forgetting to add one more line to aggravate Klaus further, "There's no difference in you forcefully holding her against her will and compelling her to stay against her will, just think about it… unless you're not compelling her because you like holding her hand,"

It was no secret Klaus always despised Kol whenever he talked in his haughty tone and when he remarked on things he had no business remarking on, but it was when his remarks made some kinds of sense, when they seem to tell things he rather turn a blind eye on, that Klaus found himself despising his brother's yapping even more, more than usual.

"Let's get going Bekah, let the love birds have some time to themselves," Kol put his arm around his sister's shoulder, who threw it away annoyed before she caught up with Finn.

Klaus hated himself for having the self-control to not to pull out the dagger out of his coat and stab his overbearing brother again.

"I think we should go," Caroline dragged her hand as she tried to stroll in the way of the others.

He let Caroline drag him for few yards, before they walked side by side.

Finally they came across the mansion. Klaus's three siblings were standing in front of its doors marveling at the fact it still stood there, however rundown it may have appeared.

Its walls too have been taken over by some form of vines, which had run over the grey walls, as if they were veins that had help sustain its life over the years.

One side of the mansion looked burnt; particularly one window above the ground floor, but it was difficult to see how extensive the damage was in the light that they had.

After looking at the burnt window for some time Klaus sighed as if to brace himself to face what lay inside, "Let's go in," He went up to the large diamond arched door with Caroline and put his left palm to push it open.

It wailed as it moved back.

He was able to enter without a problem, a clear sign no human had claimed it after they had fled.

He protectively pushed Caroline behind him as he walked inside the foyer.

The large broken windows, the opened door had made the shadows disappear somewhat, as the impending sun rise coming through them was helping them out a bit more this time to see the inside of the mansion.

"This is just … incredible," Klaus heard Kol say looking at the hallway that remained fairly unharmed, though the miles long spider webs and layers of dust that lay upon the grand furniture and chandeliers had hidden all their shine and shimmer, anyone could see the beauty once it may have had.

"I wouldn't have ever guessed that something like this to ever be here, in the middle of the woods! How has no one ever discovered this even after all these years?" Caroline mouthed and Klaus' eyes quickly went to her.

She seemed to be imagining how the mansion may have looked in its hay days, and he couldn't take his eyes off her blue ones that were caught up in the splendor of the mansion.

"I told you it was amazing, I think it was one of Niklaus' finest designs," Rebekah reveled, walking up the stairs.

"Be careful, Bekah," Finn shouted after her.

"I will, I'm just going to look for my old room," Rebekah ran up in vampire speed, and Finn being the over protective brother pursued his younger sister.

"No wonder Rebekah wanted to come back here," Kol said disappearing into some room.

Klaus was still staring at the awestruck blonde whose forearm was in his clutch.

Caroline gradually began to step towards the wall in front as if she was drawn to it, as if she was being pulled by a magnet.

He simply let her lead the way.

She stopped in front of a painting, a one that was done by him, long ago. The wear and tear time had caused was evident on the edges of the painting.

She wiped the sheet of dust with her hand and stared at the painting of the lone snowflake, which was fighting against the shadows that he had drawn around them.

"Did you paint this?" She asked her eyes not leaving the painting.

"Do you like it?" He asked his eyes not leaving her face.

"Will that change your answer?" She took a step back to get a better view.

"No…" He smirked, taking a step back with her.

"So?" She questioned, her eyes falling on him.

He suddenly shifted his eyes to the painting, in fear of getting caught staring at her, "Yes it is mine … So…What do you think? Do you like it?" Not that her opinion should or would matter to him, but he felt a need to know.

"Yes… there's something… about it… I can't explain… I mean I'm no expert but…" She mumbled, "It looks lonely.. and.. lost," She concluded looking upon the painting.

She may not have been an expert in critiquing art but she may have been an expert in reading him, he felt as he gazed at her wordlessly.

"Ahh!" Rebekah screeched in high pitch turning both Klaus and Caroline's attention to the sound.

"I wouldn't be that worried if I were you. Our dear sister might have just come across some mouse running around in the closet," Kol entered back to the foyer leisurely checking his hair from a silver plate he had picked up from somewhere.

"Ahhh!" Rebekah screamed once more, provoking Klaus to run up the stairs with Caroline.

"Rebekah! Open the door! what's wrong?" Finn was already at her locked door banging when Klaus and Caroline got there.

"Rebekah!" Klaus shouted kicking the door open.

"What the hell?" It was Caroline's response to what she saw inside for it was merely Rebekah discovering some of her old cloths.

"I told you two there was nothing to worry about," Kol who had finally decided to check on the sound stood behind Klaus.

"Aww you were worried too Kol? admit it, otherwise you wouldn't have come up here," Rebekah mocked.

"Shut up Bekah!" Kol demanded running inside and throwing off one of the dresses Rebekah was holding back to the closet.

"Hey!" Rebekah protested and ran over to the closet to pick up the dress again.

"I'm going back down stairs," Finn who seemed to have had enough of his younger siblings bickering took off.

"Nik, Can't we stay here please!" Rebekah pleaded, twirling around holding her dress, she may have been thousand years old but she was behaving like a teenager.

"No!" Klaus answered firmly, turning to look at his hand to see whether Caroline had not slipped out of his grasp amongst the whole drama. In fact she was there, quite enjoying herself listening to Rebekah's tantrums and Kol's snickering that was provoked by them.

"Oh please just because you found some old dress, that doesn't mean we could stay here," Kol sat himself on Rebekah's dusty old bed, stationing himself so that he could carry on with the bickering for longer, for it had always been sort of his hobby to annoy Rebekah.

"Oh shut up!" Though Rebekah may not say it or she may look as though she hated it, but in some way Klaus knew Rebekah missed it whenever Kol was not there.

"Looks like they'll be arguing over this for the next few hours," Klaus took Caroline out of the room.

"Wait! What's in there?" Caroline pushed a slightly opened door as they walked by some room.

"Let's go," Klaus dragged her but she stood there looking inside.

"Why is that room burnt?" Caroline's face crumpled.

"There's nothing there to look Caroline," He tugged her but not with enough force for she was still walking towards the burnt room.

"What happened here?" She looked around the dark walls, the remnants of some furniture, and what seemed to have been a large mirror.

"Mikael," that's all he could manage to say, as he remembered why he was so reluctant to come there in the first place, as he remembered why he thought of never renovating the house so lovingly he had built.

Her other hand gingerly, placed itself over his hand that had come to clasp her wrist, this time it was not in an attempt to free herself.

"One day, when we were coming home from the town ball, we saw a fire blazing out of this room… my room," Klaus looked about the room feeling nostalgic as he caught his reflection from the remaining part of his old mirror that was covered with dark residue, "Rebekah, Elijah and I, We all came up, wanting to put the fire out, and saw him standing in front of the door waiting for me, to kill me," He didn't know what was inciting him to reveal something he had been trying to forget, just like every other memory he had of his father, but strangely he felt relieved that it was coming out, "We managed to run away but this room couldn't be saved,"

"Was there something important in this room?" She examined the room taking a slow step forward.

"My paintings, my favorite ones," Klaus remembered every last piece he had seen go up in flames that night. Comparatively the ones that were on the foyer was nothing to him, they were not as close to his heart as the ones that were in his room.

She exhaled, her eyes closed for a moment, as if to hide her obvious concern.

"And do you know who tipped them off about our location?" Klaus gritted, his arm unconsciously gripping her wrist sternly, "Your friend, Katherine"

Her eyes shot open, "No… It can't be! she never told me about a place like this! She never told me anything about you having a mansion in Mystic Falls!" She looked about the room, confused by what she was hearing.

"See what kind of friends you're keeping Caroline! She takes whatever the side that she can benefit the most from at that moment," Klaus felt his muscles tense at the thought of the despicable woman.

Caroline stuttered, "You're… You're… lying! How do you know she told your father?" It may have not been easy to hear someone who she had considered a friend, an ally for centuries to be described as traitorous.

"That was one of many things, Mikael told me to belittle me, he used it as an example to show how the Petrovas had and always will betray me however much I wanted to trust them," Klaus could still hear his father's voice saying all those things to him, that day as he stood before the fire, smiling for he had managed to bring Klaus's world to ashes.

"But Tatia… she never did anything to betray you, did she? May be your father was making it up," Caroline shook her head unwilling to believe him.

"I don't know Caroline," He gazed into her eyes, she had not changed he believed, she viewed the world same way she had done thousand years ago, naïvely; though she was trying to veil it with her fluttering eye lids he could still catch it in her eyes; Caroline Archer like always was too trusting, willing to see the good in anyone, may be except when it came to him, "I don't want to talk about this anymore, certainly not with you," Klaus uttered trying to remind himself that she was only his captive, his weakness, the woman who had been trying to stop him from breaking his curse, not his friend.

She took her hand that covered his. "You can't keep holding onto me forever, I won't leave… you're right I do need your protection,"

"I don't trust you… not anymore," Klaus glared at her blue eyes that seemed to be begging to be freed from his clasp.

She put her free hand inside her long black coat, "Would you let my hand go and trust me not to escape if I gave you this?" She was handing him the moonstone, the very one they had been fighting over for centuries, "I mean you can rest assure that I won't run away without this, Can't you?"

He took her hand that had the moonstone, and dragged her closer to him, close enough so that he could read every little move her eyes made, "What kind of game are you playing love?"

"I'm not playing any games!" She frowned, looking outright annoyed.

"Somehow I don't believe you," He couldn't help himself; he dragged her closer yearning to smell her curly blonde hair, yearning to run his fingers through them just to see whether they were as smooth and silky as he remembered.

"May be that's your problem," She moaned the words out as she pushed him lethargically, it really wasn't even a push at all, "Let my hand go and you can have it," Her voice trembled as he bent his knees a bit to rest his forehead against hers a moment before he let both her hands go, only taking the moonstone along with him.

"There," He took a step back, feeling oddly empty, feeling as if it was not the moonstone he wished to have had in his hold, "Just know that I could've taken the moonstone from you, without letting your hand go, So I hope you keep your word Caroline?"

"Don't worry I will," Caroline glared at her free hands, one free of him the other free of the moonstone.

"So let's get going then, we need to find a place to stay," Klaus announced, turning around to go, fearing if he looked at her a second longer he would disregard the deal and grip her wrist again.

"I was kind of hoping... We could rebuild this place and stay here, I like it," She mumbled behind him, her hopeful voice was barely above a whisper.

He could not turn quickly enough to see her face. "Really?" He stared amazed, cheerful at her request to stay at the house he designed. Her gentle plead had made him forget all the reasons that made him want to run out of the mansion.

"Yes… if I'm to stay with you…" She whispered, her hands hidden inside her coat pockets.

"I think… we can… it'll be alright… I mean it will keep Rebekah quiet for a while… stop her from bring up that little thing about me daggering her in the twenties," He wanted to make sure she didn't think that he decided to stay solely for her, "I guess we'll have to send that limo away then, and I'll have to let Martin know about my whereabouts, and let Elijah know of course," Klaus almost caught her wrist again, forgetting that he had already exchanged her hand for the moonstone, but he then took the hand back artfully without being noticed by her.

He turned to leave expecting her to follow him, but he heard no foot steps behind, thus he looked over his shoulder to check why.

Caroline looked as if she was fighting with herself about something.

"What is it?" Klaus asked turning back completely, wanting to find the reason that made her look so depressed.

"I have to let Stefan know that I'm alright," She blurted.

"No you can't contact anyone, not for any reason," Klaus said steadfastly, for he didn't want anyone else to be involved in the matter, get to know where they were, or who she was with or why, especially not Stefan.

"Because of you, the man has devoted his life to keeping me safe, if he goes one day without knowing where I'm, he'll go crazy," Caroline this time pushed him back angrily.

He stood unmoved, feeling as if the hand that hit his chest hit him one more time, that his heart could start making some noise, show some kind of life, and it scared him, "No! You can't contact him!" he turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

He was about to go down the stairs when he heard Caroline call him again, "Niklaus Mikaelson! You better tell him I'm safe or I'll forget the moonstone, about my promise to you, about the promise I gave to your mother and just leave!"

He took a few steps down; he was smiling for unknown reasons.

"Niklaus!" She shouted again, demanding him to turn. She only said his name but it sounded like she was repeating her ultimatum.

He turned only to smirk, and say that he can't let Stefan or anyone know anything about what was going on, but seeing her just stand on top of the stares, with her hands on her hips, puffing hot air, he could only manage to say, "I think I can find a way to drop him a message,"

"Thank you," She nodded, still angry that he didn't let her have her way as soon as she wanted. He smiled at her, which ultimately made her become more irritated and stomp out of his view.

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**A/N: **_The secret behind one of the missing memories will be revealed in the next chapter for sure._


	11. The Forgotten

**A/N:** Sorry I was late to update, there were so many reasons why I took so much time to update, but I don't want to bore you all with them ;) ... :D Thanks for the reviews, follows and alerts. they encourage me to write better and more :) Hope you all enjoy this...

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**The Forgotten**

It was only when Klaus couldn't just stop thinking about the female vampire in the room across his, that he came to understand what an imperative part 'sleep' had played in his life, and how much he had taken 'sleep' for granted. For however much he thought he needed to somehow shut his eyes, so that his brain would stop functioning and stop bothering him with different reasons or some may call them excuses, as to why he should just knock on Caroline's door, 'sleep' seemed a goal that was far out of his reach and the fact that Martin had confirmed the accuracy of the history teacher's translation of the 'blood bond,' didn't help the course either.

Thus when he saw a bit of sun light outside of his window and heard the hustle and bustle around the mansion as his sired vampires went about their work, he felt relieved as morning had come for his rescue for he no longer had to pretend to be asleep.

Wanting to run away from the room, he quickly got ready and put on something that his hand had managed to get a hold of, and then he almost ran down the stairs hoping not to bump into her.

It had been a week or two since they had decided to reside in their Mystic Falls manor and his army of slave vampires had done a fairly good job in bringing the mansion close to its original state. However, his old bedroom was far from being done, especially since he'd been reluctant to set a foot in it to offer any sort of directions to his minions so that they can actually complete reconstructing it.

As Klaus made his way into the living room, he could see his minions who were hard at work pretend to work harder while the few who were standing about their posts where Klaus had ordered them to stand guard tried to look more vigilant.

"Good morning brother!" Kol greeted from the large leather couch in the middle of the living room, pulling his mouth away from the neck of the woman he'd been drinking blood out of, and by the looks of it had done many other things with, for the woman's cloths were soaked in blood, her short skirt was lifted up to a point that clearly revealed Kol's exploitations.

"I see you're enjoying your morning," Klaus sat beside him coolly, setting his feet up on the coffee table as he gazed at the picture of the snow flake, which now had been completely restored. He stared at the painting thinking about the way Caroline interpreted it, 'lonely and lost'.

"Well breakfast is the most important meal isn't it? Or has it changed to dinner while I was sleeping in that coffin for the past few centuries?" Kol bit into the woman's neck once more, making the hapless woman moan in pure pleasure and immense pain, her head falling to the side and her back arching as Kol leaned on to her.

"Don't worry brother not that many things have changed… you didn't really miss that much, except for few things like the moon landing, Internet and the beetles etc…etc…" Klaus responded with an arrogant smirk, his eyes still on the painting, his mind still caught up in the fact Caroline was in the same vicinity as him; his weakness, his once upon time friend and enemy was inside the mansion.

Kol pushed the woman to the floor, "The beetles?" He glowered at Klaus, obviously trying to guess what had happened with those little insects while he was gone.

Before Klaus could expand his brother's knowledge about the legendary band, Caroline walked down the stairs, wearing a short flowery dress that matched the deep blue in her eyes, with a denim jacket over it, with her legs half covered with the long brown leather boots she wore, "Kol! What're you doing to that poor woman?" Caroline seemed so engrossed in the fact that Kol had a human lying next to his feet that she had failed to notice Klaus who was gaping at her.

The fact she failed to notice his existence over Kol's inappropriate conduct made Klaus want to break Kol's neck into two and even though it shouldn't have bothered him, he found that it bothered him nevertheless, and immensely so.

"I fail to see why I need to explain myself to you," Kol grunted as the blonde stomped down the stairs.

His feet too finding a place on the table just as Klaus, with his hands behind his head as he settled in to a more comfortable position.

"Do not be so rude Kol!" Finn commanded walking in from the front door, "She's right, you can't treat people like this!" He took his coat off and one of the sired vampires quickly took it from his hands. Finn clearly seemed to be displeased with the little act as he didn't believe in enslaving anyone.

"We are vampires Finn, and they're our food, it's not our fault that we're on top of the food chain," Kol stood up and he lifted the woman up again and began to drink some more blood out of her just for the sake of it, just to aggravate the ones around him.

"Stop it!" Caroline pulled Kol's hands off from the woman, making the almost lifeless body fall back on to the carpet, "You can't use women like this! Not while I'm here!" She pushed Kol back with a loud grunt and her face changed into the monstrous creature Klaus had very rarely seen come out.

There was something about the whole ordeal that made Klaus just sit back and admire Caroline as she gradually turned into her vampire self.

"Don't make me forget the friends we were some time ago Caroline!" Kol stood up, only to be thrown off to the wall behind by her.

She breathing heavily watched Kol skid down the wall.

Enough of lounging, Klaus thought as he stood up to provide any assistance if necessary.

Kol hurriedly got up and retaliated by darting towards Caroline, tumbling her to the floor and landing on top of her, sitting with his legs parted on either side of her, "You're quite the little fighter aren't you? Your cooking might be bad, but I'd still marry you if you promise to keep this spirit alive every day, and I hope you know what I mean," Kol whispered to her ear, holding her hands over her head.

Caroline's vampire features disappeared, "For the last time, my cooking is not bad!" A smile escaped her, and Kol followed her lead and broke into a laugh almost falling on top of her.

"Welcome back Caroline Archer!" Kol managed to say among the chuckle.

The laughter struck Klaus as if it were needles pocking on his ears, "Get off of her!" Klaus pulled Kol up, letting his feet be suspended in air as he lifted him up further, but to Klaus' surprise he saw his brother to still be in a very cheerful mood even after coming face to face with his glare.

"Niklaus, don't do anything rash!" Finn warned, his tone much more severe than a second ago.

"What? Am I not allowed to have a little fun with our dear Caroline Archer like I used to?" Kol grinned as he saw Caroline get to her feet adjusting her short dress with a bit of a sly smile of her own, for obviously she had the right attitude towards his sneaky humor even though she may have hated the part where he almost killed a woman in the middle of the living room, "She clearly doesn't seemed to have mind, Nik," Kol raised his eyes while his lips curved to show off his all-knowing smirk.

Suspecting his brother's words to be somewhat true, Klaus turned sharply at Caroline, who quickly gulped her little smile and begun to fix her bangs, "I mind being called a bad cook, and I very much mind the fact that there's woman lying on the floor, bleeding all over the carpet!" She put on a rather serious expression; at least she seemed to have tried.

It was not the kind of answer Klaus expected from her, he wanted her to say something harsher to Kol, put his meddling idiotic brother in his place, "Clean this up! Now!" Klaus ordered one of the enslaved vampires who was aimlessly standing leaning against the wall, unable to understand who's right or wrong, or whether if there was anything such as right and wrong at all in the dispute that was going on between his master, his siblings and the female vampire they all were secretly heard calling 'his girl', just so that everyone knew she was off limits, not that they ever thought she would give them a time of day.

Whilst Klaus was preoccupied directing the otherwise impotent vampire slave around, Kol had managed to release himself from Klaus's grasp, with a bit of help from Finn.

"Since when did my dear brother worry after a little blood stain on the carpet?" Kol laughed at Klaus, shaking his messy head of hair, watching the sired vampire clean up after the mess he had made.

It didn't take time for Klaus to want to throw Kol to the ground, so he lifted his hand aiming at his brother's neck, but Klaus had found his hand to be stuck in mid-air, as if something powerful was preventing him from going through with it.

It took a millisecond for him to realize that it was against Caroline's gentle touch that he had faltered, that had made him pause. If not for the damned sleeve of his Henley shirt, her little fingers would have had direct contact with his arm, they would have flickered against his skin, but still even with the shirt he felt it, he felt the warmth of her skin burn through the cotton.

"Stop this! I don't want anyone to start fighting because of…" Caroline hesitated seeing Klaus' eyes had settled on her.

His eyes soften as it met hers and her hand gently fell off his arm, leaving him feeling somewhat cold, missing the contact instantly.

Caroline brought the two halves of her jacket together as if she felt the same draft as him.

"Ah… everything looks to be in perfect order, doesn't it?" Rebekah came down the steps, secretly checking herself from the large mirror that hung on the wall next to the staircase, "Kol trying to get himself be daggered by Nik, Caroline trying to stop him, Finn trying to be a caring father figure… and the only thing missing is Elijah trying to find a way to win Caroline's hand and Nik trying to kill him too… and that too I guess we'll be able to see tonight, after Elijah arrives for dinner,"

"Well Bekah I think you forgot the part where I try to kill you," Kol's wicked stare travelled to his sister who stood in front of him with her hands on her waist.

Klaus sighed glaring at Kol heatedly, for it seemed his brother would live another day to annoy him, thanks to his sister's influx and Caroline.

"You would try but I would be the one to succeed in the end, If Nik hadn't daggered you first," Rebekah passed a mocking smile at Kol and she pushed him to the side and sat on the couch.

"Did you smoke something, while you slept with those two humans, I saw sneak out of your room this morning? Because there is no way you could ever kill me dear sister!" Kol sat beside Rebekah just to taunt her more, pulling a strand of her perfectly set hair, making her screech in annoyance.

Finn stared at Rebekah with an utmost disappointed expression, "Did you really Bekah? Two humans? I know you're a vampire and this is the twenty first century… but,"

"Kol is lying, Finn! But I wish he weren't though… I'm getting quite bored having only you people to talk to… I'm actually thinking about joining Mystic Falls High. Just because Nik wants to make sure Caroline's safe doesn't mean that I have to stay with her all day every day and baby-sit her. Nik, I think I've made sure she's safe long enough and I need my freedom," Rebekah looked crossed as she turned to face Caroline, "It's a grueling job to be around people you hate all the time," Rebekah acted all exhausted and pretend to fan herself with her hand.

Caroline smiled teasingly at Rebekah, who had no idea what sort of a torturous lives high schoolers have, for even as a vampire the little time Caroline had spent at the small town high school was enough for her to be thankful to be born in a time where education was optional, or rather none existent, "And you think high school is going to be any different?" Caroline rolled her eyes at Rebekah, taking in a breath hoping that it would help calm her nerves as she caught Rebekah show no interest in what she had to say.

"And so it begins," Klaus slurred and sat in an armchair, and put one leg over the other, setting his legs into a figure four position, ready to witness the round one of the fight between the only two women that lived in the Mikaelson household. He had thought having a bigger house would mean lesser chance of trying to kill each other, but it seemed not to be the case.

However he was glad he had made Martin stay in a hotel, for if he had stayed with them the poor warlock would have lost his mind and Klaus would have had to find another warlock to do his bidding.

"Here I thought that you two worked out your differences after all that bonding you two did over some pair of shoes last night, … and after all that shopping you two did," Finn sighed and sat on the armchair that was set opposite to where Klaus was .

"Be careful what you say to them brother, they attack in packs," Kol muttered under his breath, probably remembering how they joined forces the first day they arrived there and to his fortune his remark had gone unnoticed by both.

"I'm sure High school would be better than being your nanny!" Rebekah argued as Caroline walked over to where she sat and looked down at her.

"I don't need you to be my nanny!" Caroline growled and she seemed seconds away from changing into her vampire form again.

Rebekah stood up so that her face was straight against the other blonde, fuming, her short bangs flying into the air as she huffed.

"May be I could fill that position of the nanny, if Nik doesn't mind of course," Kol eagerly looked at Caroline, fully well knowing if he turned the other way he would catch Klaus' maddened face, his clenching jaws.

"Shut up Kol!" The two blondes yelled in unison, turning to the youngest Mikaelson brother.

"Is this my welcoming party?" Elijah's voice coming from the entrance to the living room, made every one turn around. Each expression on each vampire was different than the other as they looked upon the new addition to their group.

"Elijah, I'm so glad you're finally here," Finn was the first to get up and greet Elijah, "Finally I have someone to talk to, although I did enjoy my little conversations with our dear Caroline," Finn's little glance back at Caroline, made Elijah direct his own eyes towards her.

"Caroline," Her name came off Elijah's surprised lips as if he was saying some sort of a magical word.

Elijah took a step forward half ignoring Finn's embrace and half ignoring Rebekah, who came running his way shoving Caroline somewhat purposely so to the side, as if she wanted to break his brother's gaze that was directed at the blond girl she loved to hate.

Caroline grinned uneasily at Elijah for a mere second before she searched behind her to catch Klaus' expression which was expectedly nothing short of looking like a deranged animal.

Klaus stood up reflexively so as he found Elijah approaching Caroline with another step.

"It's now that the real game begins," Kol mumbled, smirking, as his mischievous glances went back and forth between his two elder brothers and Caroline Archer who was standing in the middle.

Grumbling at Kol's little comment Klaus went closer to Elijah, "Welcome back Elijah, I hope you're pleased that our family is back together again," No doubt that no one was fooled by the synthetic smile Klaus wore.

"I am…" Elijah finally managed to turn his eyes away from Caroline to his brother.

Caroline smiled nervously, and it was written all over her that she wanted to get away from there, get away from the madness, the Mikaelsons, "I think I'll go for a walk and let you guys catch up," She zipped up her jacket half way and began to go in the way of the front door, much to the disappointment of more than half of the Mikaelson brothers.

A strange notion of abandonment hit Klaus at the thought of seeing Caroline leave the room, but he knew nothing could be done about it, for he had promised her freedom.

Although he only provided and knew of a very narrow definition of freedom, still their little deal didn't allow him to hold onto her hand and keep her a prisoner, keep her right next to him at all times anymore.

"Go with her!" Klaus commanded two of his sired vampires, for if he couldn't stop her, he thought he had to ensure her safe return.

"Seriously, I'm just going for a walk in the garden… I'm not going to run away!" Caroline complained, frowning at the two haughty looking vampires who came and stood behind her.

Klaus ignoring the quizzical expression Elijah had on his face glared at Caroline, "It's for your protection," No, he was not afraid of her not returning, because she would break the promise she had given him and run, but because he knew how badly some, if not all craved to see him dead and since killing her was the ultimate way to subdue the craving, he was more concerned about 'their' lives.

However, the difference between his life and her life had become so minuscule, sometimes he found it hard to differentiate them, he found it hard to understand which he valued more, for they were now one life for they were bound by blood, and her life he felt was far more fragile than his, thus he wanted to believe it was for no other reason than that he had found himself being worried for her life more than his.

"For my protection or your protection? I don't need these two! I'm thousand years old!" Caroline shouted, her foot stomping somewhat.

Her words thwarted Klaus thoroughly, he felt that he should push her against the wall and shout into her ear saying that, '_it truly is for your protection'_, yet his reply departed his lips rather softly and differently than he anticipated, "Very well," He told as he motioned the two vampires to stay back.

They with a slight nod to their master took to their earlier posts.

"May be I'll accompany her?" Kol got up, but he couldn't stay standing for so long for Finn had pushed down on his shoulder making him sit back down.

"Thank you," Caroline looked at Klaus and placed a somewhat of a grateful smile and strolled out from the front door.

However, just as she was out of scope, Klaus once again discreetly motioned the two minions to follow her.

"What is going on? I mean, why is Caroline here?" Elijah's gaze was still set on the doorway where Caroline had disappeared out of.

Klaus walked around and blocked Elijah's view, his every muscle tensing in anger even at the sight of Elijah staring at the empty spot, "I would've thought you'd be happy to see her. Didn't you have a thing for her or something thousand years ago brother?" Klaus wanted to know whether those feelings still existed, whether they ever existed at all, whether they were the cause of Caroline not remembering something he surely had not forgotten.

"I am glad to see her, but what I don't understand is why you, who for the last few centuries had been chasing her, for all the wrong reasons is so keen on protecting her now," Elijah looked to every face in the room for an explanation, for the turn of events that had led the two supposed enemies to live under the same roof and one to be offering protection to the other truly had to be something more than significant.

No one seemed happier to explain it all than Kol, he got ready by clearing his throat, "Let me explain, If you ever feel like killing Nik, if you ever feel like you've had enough of him, all you have to do is stake our little Caroline Archer,"

He imagined it; Klaus' imagination gave life to Kol's every word, how Elijah in a fit of anger would simply stake Caroline, kill her in the hopes of seeking revenge over something or the other he had committed . It didn't feel right, the visions felt completely unrealistic, improbable but at the same time the image of Caroline in pain, falling to the ground lifelessly made him flinch.

Though it shouldn't have made him react such a way, for he had given up on feeling anything long time ago, he believed it was due to all that entailed with the blood bond he had had such unexplainable reactions to her. If it weren't for the pesky bond, if he had to have any feelings for his weakness, it would have been 'indifference', he figured; it was what he wanted to believe.

"What does that supposed to mean?" Elijah clearly had a hard time believing and understanding Kol's ambiguous explanation, in fact if none of them knew what Kol had been talking about beforehand, they too may have not understood what gibberish Kol was uttering, they too may have had the same baffled expression which Elijah was sporting.

"It means their lives are bound together, their lives depend on one another," Rebkah explained, sounding completely exhausted by the whole connection, the big deal they were making out of it, for more than once with in the past week she had voiced out that it was highly unlikely that being a thousand year old vampire Caroline could be killed that easily. Thus she was confident the danger was less eminent than they all were making it out to be. She also hadn't forgotten to point out, when asked to keep an eye on Caroline that unless one of the Mikaelsons attempted to kill Caroline, she would be safe, and considering their father was taken care of by some witches, her brothers had a soft spot for their old friend Caroline Archer, if any one was to kill her she said it had to be her, but according to her it would be too much of a hassle and she had better things to do with her life.

"So that means if I ever killed Niklaus, Caroline would die as well?" Elijah seemed as if he had not checked his thoughts before he verbalized them.

"You talk as if you've found a damper in your little plot to kill me," Klaus scorned, he would never had thought that Elijah of all people would say something as such; he was the good brother, the one who always did the right thing, said the right thing. It was no secret they had their differences, in point of fact it was out in the open for all to see, but they were brothers, he was family, he may threaten to kill them and dagger them ever so often, but he would never actually wish to be rid of them, not forever.

"You know that's not what I meant, Niklaus" Elijah reached out to grab Klaus' shoulder, hoping he would not be misconstrued by his wrongly placed words.

"It sounded to me like that's exactly what you meant," However much Klaus wanted to believe his brother, to believe it was a mistake, he for some reason could not.

"Let this go now! Come Elijah I'll show you to your room, we've almost done fixing it… I think it is usable," Rebekah dragged Elijah away, hoping to stop the brewing duel, which had been long coming.

Elijah went along with Rebekah, as Klaus looked on giving a crooked smile letting everyone know that the discussion was far from over.

It was at night that everyone gathered again. They all sat before the slightly oval shaped table, as the servants put the food down. They placed glasses of bourbon, red wine and blood next to each other, concept water or any other liquid seemed simply irrelevant.

Klaus didn't know how it happened, how it came to be but Caroline had come to sit to the right of him, maybe because she consciously wanted to leave two seats of distance between Elijah and her, but anyway it distracted Klaus; whatever she put in her mouth, the awkward little smiles, they all did nothing but distract him, make him want to taste something else, other than the human food that sat idly on his plate or the blood belonging to some unknown humans that lay on the table.

Elijah lifted up his glass; the subtle movement the red liquid made in its container, proving it was just wine, "To family!" he toasted.

"To family!" All the Mikaelsons followed some raising glasses of blood others wine, while Caroline held up her glass just a little and said nothing for perhaps she felt an outsider in midst of the Mikaelsons, and her little apprehension did not go unnoticed by any of the Mikaelson siblings.

"Caroline… are you alright?" Finn who was sitting right opposite of her glanced at her as he sipped his wine.

She laughed it off, "Sorry! It's just so funny to me that just this morning you were talking about who kills who first, and now you are toasting 'to family'," She pointed out the irony, shoving the glass to her lips trying to escape the awkward silence that ensued her words,

Klaus eyed her, he could read the definite hurt in her eyes, the loneliness she may had kept hidden from them all for years. He could partly understand why she was so unwilling to believe Katherine to be such a crude woman, for except for Katherine and may be for Stefan, Caroline had no one else, unlike himself who had a family that he constantly pushed away, because somewhere in his mind he had always believed they would always return, though they may not always greet him with a hug, he had always known that they would return.

"I thought by now… after all these years this… our way of life would be normal to you," Finn gave a hopeful smile, putting his wine down and picking up his spoon and fork.

"It was... it is… but you have to admit, it still is quite funny," She kept her eyes on the plate, taking the fork into her hand, staring at it as if it was the most complex thing she had ever seen.

"So how do you like it here Caroline?" Elijah, who was sitting right opposite of Klaus took her attention and she looked up at him, her fork still only lightly poking on the food.

Caroline's eyes then snuck a glance at Klaus before she looked over the two empty chairs that were in between her and Elijah and answered, "Except for the fact I'm being kept here like a prisoner, I like it here," Her stare fell down again.

Kol who was sitting next to Finn reached for a bottle of blood and poured some to his glass. "Why isn't anyone asking me what I feel about being here?"

"Because no one cares about how you feel Kol!" Rebekah stuffed her mouth with some food and checked Kol's face to see whether her words did what it supposed to, to see if he was annoyed.

Kol after flashing a smile at Rebekah, raised his glass looking about the rest of his dining companions, "To Whom It May Concern, I Kol Mikaelson approve of this Mansion,"

Only Caroline smiled Kol's way, looking up from her plate, to which Kol replied with a wink.

Nothing escaped Klaus's notice, especially when it concerned a certain weakness that was sitting to the right of him and his brother who was always ready and willing to exploit it.

Klaus' stare went between his younger brother and Caroline, disapproving, and scowling as if he was a beast calculating its next course of action to catch its prey.

Rebekah gulped the last bit of food in her mouth, and pointed at Klaus with her spoon, "Did you know Nik built this place exactly in the same spot where our hut used to be?"

"Really?" Caroline's amazed stare fell upon Klaus, and just as he nodded to confirm, she shied away from his gaze turning her eyes on to something she only seemed to have noticed on the table.

She put a strand of hair behind her ear, as if to distract him by showing off the smooth skin of her neck.

Afraid that if he stared any longer he would bite into it, Klaus reached out to grab the bottle of blood in front of him to divert his attention elsewhere, but as luck would have it Caroline too had spread her hand to grasp the very same bottle.

They touched, their hands touched a little, just for a fraction, his hand barely made contact with hers before she quickly took her hands off the bottle and slid out of his reach, but the tingling sensation, the burn where his hand touched hers seemed to run deep into his skin, down to every tissue of his dead body.

He stared at her, his eyes hungry, his chest heavy with words that didn't quite seemed to know how to find their way to his mouth.

He stared at her, at the way she was staring at her hand, at the tip of her fingers that his hand had grazed.

"Finn, what's wrong?" Elijah's troubled voice made Klaus almost jolt and look back at Finn.

Their eldest brother was not much of a conversationalist, but he seemed particularly quiet all of a sudden, for even after Elijah calling him he still remained silent, his eyes gazing at the bottle that caused the small incident that left Caroline staring at her hands.

"Finn? Is there something wrong?" Rebekah asked tentatively, the softness that had taken over her eyes was very telling of the fact she already knew the answer to her question, she already knew what had so suddenly come over their eldest brother.

Finn still stared, as if the little episode between the hands and the bottle had taken him to another time, and place, memories, a love that he so dearly missed, "Nothing," Finn shook his head, but neither the head movement or the pitiful smile he had on, managed to convince anyone there was nothing going on his head, when they could all see that there was indeed something wrong with him.

Caroline shifted her eyes to Finn, "If you're worried about Sage, don't be… I met her few years ago, she's fine… but she was searching for you though. I don't know where she's now… but I promise I'll help you find her after all this is over, when we find a way to break the blood bond," A gentle caring smile was all that took Finn to look a bit more like his natural melancholy self.

'_Break the blood bond',_ Caroline's last four words resonated in Klaus' ears, and it was with utmost difficulty he brought his attention to listen to Finn's response.

"Thank you Caroline," Finn nodded, this time his smile more genuine, and he looked highly appreciative of the words the blonde in front of him had said, "I was afraid to ask after her, I was afraid what the answer may be, whether she was still alive… then I shall be setting off to find her as soon as I'm sure my family has resolved their issues and they'll not be daggering each other any longer," The determination to find his lover made Finn's face look lively, taste a bit of food and actually look like he enjoyed it for once.

The connection between Finn and Sage, Klaus had always been intrigued of, the way they had been holding on to the hope that they would meet one day and learn the other still felt the same way as they did thousand years ago, it fascinated Klaus. He wanted to learn what made them believe in such foolish notions, for he didn't believe in that kind of love, he didn't believe in any kind of love for that matter, at least not any more, for according to him love did not exist it was a just a weakness in disguise.

Yet inherently, Klaus stole a glance at Caroline, his 'weakness', the weakness conjured up by the witches and not by any fault of his own. The way her lean fingers grasped and played with the edge of her plate as if she was nervous, as if she had noticed his glance that had now turned out into a stare, made him feel utterly confused, and he fought hard with himself to keep believing that his forethought about 'love being a weakness in disguise' was spot-on and it was not the other way around.

"Finn I hate to break this to you, you might have to wait another thousand years if you want to see all our family problems resolved, You might have to rethink your plans brother," Kol muttered, the simple truth bringing about laughter to the table, but Klaus could hardly laugh, his un-beating heart, which he had long forgotten that was there, which he had considered an organ that he no longer needed, or existed was paining as if it was threatening to make a very unnatural sound as his eyes caught Caroline's eyes brighten as she laughed.

"There's someone here to meet you at the gate," One of the minions informed, his voice so timid and for the strong looking vampire he was it looked as if his voice came out from a child hiding behind him. "He says his name is Stefan,"

Klaus came to the real world, his musings at once put in to the back of his mind, "Ah I almost forgot I invited a guest over… Tell him to come!" He ordered his servant vampire.

"You invited Stefan? Why didn't you tell me?" Caroline seemed surprised, angry and happy altogether, and it made Klaus slant his face and look at her, trying to guess which one would ultimately win the battle and settle on her face.

"He wanted to know where you are, and I wanted to know where the doppelganger is, so it was a result of a friendly exchange," He smirked, finally learning that anger was the one that had won over her.

"Why didn't you tell me Nik?" Rebekah breathed out a hot puff of air, and she looked as if she was about to throw the knife on her hand at Klaus' face.

"I guess it must've just slipped my mind," It was intentional, nothing ever slipped Klaus' mind, well except for the memories of that one year that apparently he had forgotten about, which apparently he had spent with Caroline.

"Who's Stefan?" Elijah asked, before Kol could open his mouth to ask what may have been the exact same question.

"Rebekah's lover," Klaus saw his sister watching him with all the anger in the world, the memory of what he had done to both of them at the speakeasy coming back to her, the way he daggered her after confessing for the fact he had compelled Stefan, because he was allegedly looking after his sister, because he didn't want her to be broken hearted, because he didn't' want her to have a weakness, leaving out the fact it was something in the line of envy that may have driven him to do most of the things he had done that night.

"Rebekah has a lover? I feel bad for the bloke," Kol laughed, his head falling backwards, he seemed to have heard the funniest joke ever which no one else but him and Klaus had found to be funny, especially Finn seemed he had found it difficult to find the humor, as he seemed like he wanted to run out of the house and go look for Sage, for he truly seemed to have come to the conclusion that it was impossible for his family to change.

"Well he used to be, before Nik compelled him to forget about me, so that Stefan could be Caroline's bodyguard," Rebekah's anger now was shifted at Caroline.

"It's not like I wanted him to do that to Stefan, I still hate him for doing that to Stefan, doing that to you… Stefan cared for you…" Caroline was looking at Rebekah straight in the eyes, but Rebekah didn't seem she was convinced of what she had heard.

And all Klaus heard was that Caroline still hated him, it was nothing new, and he may have not expected anything more, but still it always felt different when the words themselves hovered around the room like that.

"Just when you think things couldn't get more interesting…" Kol remarked, this time getting a flick at the back of his head from Finn.

Elijah's eyes, Klaus caught staring at Caroline for a moment.

When Elijah noticed he had been found out by Klaus, he quickly turned his attention to Kol who was rubbing the spot on the back of his head where Finn had hit him.

They all turned their heads at the sound of footsteps approaching the room.

Stefan peeked into the room, but as soon as he saw Caroline he hurried his steps, "Caroline? Are you alright? Has he hurt you?"

"I'm fine Stefan, I'm so happy you're here," Caroline ran towards him, almost jumping in to his arms. While Finn studied the newcomer thoroughly, Elijah, Rebekah nor Klaus looked at all excited at the way Caroline embraced her friend, which made Kol lick his lips lightly as though he was sharpening his tongue, thinking of ways he could ruffle some feathers and make his dinner bit more enjoyable.

"Stefan," Rebekah muttered, almost getting up, opting to sit back down remembering that Stefan had no memory of her.

"Yes?" Stefan turned to Rebekah, turning Caroline along with him.

He stared at Rebekah unable to understand why the unfamiliar blonde at the table, more in particular an Original would call out his name as so.

"Nothing," The color of Rebekah's eyes became murky as she shook her head.

"Why don't you take a seat and join us for dinner?" Klaus invited Stefan, his hand pointing at the table.

"It's alright Stefan, trust me," Caroline dragged him over to the table and took her own seat next to Klaus and made Stefan sit on the other side of her.

The dinner went along relatively calmly for the next couple of minutes which followed, in spite of the awkward glances that went around.

"So, this is boring…" Kol pretended to yawn, his eyes scanning to find out who would break first, "I thought everyone would be at each other's throats by now,"

"If anyone's going to be strangling anyone, it would be me strangling you!" Rebekah roared, and Kol smiled looking at his sister as if he had found a target.

"Stop your bickering and eat your dinner!" Elijah growled at the youngest Mikaelsons.

"Are they always like this?" Stefan whispered into Caroline's ear.

Caroline chuckled shaking her head, "Worse" she replied, making Stefan smile as he served himself some wine.

Though Klaus heard exactly what they were whispering about, as did everyone else, the small exchange he had witnessed made him want to lift the table up and break it into pieces, and by the looks of it Elijah though normally gentle and understanding seemed to be considering something akin to his own idea; and it was hard for Klaus to convince himself that it was because he was offended by how Caroline perceived his family, for her remark was hundred percent true, they were worse, but still he was determined, he still tried extremely hard to convince that both he and Elijah's despising looks towards Stefan and Caroline was about their family not about the person who said it.

"I concur" Finn drank a bit of blood out of his glass, looking about the faces of all his family members.

Except for the occasional sound of the utensils meeting, the room was silent again.

The desserts were brought in soon afterwards and they all dug in hoping the thick tension would be forgotten with a bit of sugar in their system.

Kol took a spoon full of the Crème brûlée, and looked around for something that could give rise to any sort of mayhem, just for his entertainment.

Kol turned to Elijah and Finn, he shook his head at once as if mentally writing them off as the least likely vampires on the table to react to his comments, so he turned to the younger ones.

Klaus sensing what his brother may be up to, gave him a look which told him, he was not to be messed with, thus Kol set his eyes on his sister who was stirring the crème brûlée with her spoon as if it was a cup of tea, with her gaze fixed on Stefan who smiled with Caroline, "Oh you poor thing, he can't remember… it won't matter how many times you bat your lashes at him, he won't remember," Kol made a worried face.

Rebekah sharply turned to her infuriating brother, "Why don't you mind your own business? Worry about your stupid hair or something!" Rebkah put the spoon in the little cup she had been playing with and pushed it away from her.

"You are my sister! Your happiness_ is_ my business!" Kol grinned watching Rebekah's eyes that glared threatening to burn him down, and may be the house along with him.

"Kol, when will you learn to behave?" Finn mumbled.

For Rebekah's fortune, and for Kol's deep unhappiness, the conversation about Rebekah's past with Stefan couldn't be brought up any further as Stefan seemed to have not understood that the earlier statements concerned him.

After another long period of silence, Stefan commented, "This really is not what I imagined how the original family would be like," his eyes strayed towards Rebekah.

"Are we all so disgusting and abnormal than you thought?" Elijah laughed.

Everyone's eyes were on Stefan, they waited for his answer, and the Originals looked at him as if they would kill him if he said the wrong thing.

"Not really," Stefan no doubt feeling nervous under the stare laughed cautiously as he gave his opinion on them, "I find you all very normal… more normal than most human families I know… well if you forget the whole vampire, immortal part, and killing humans for no reason part,"

"Seriously?" Caroline burst into laughter.

Klaus didn't care much for Stefan's opinion, but he liked the fact Stefan made Caroline laugh and it was then Klaus thought it was not a mistake in his part to have brought the Salvatore to his home.

"Normal? Us?" Finn too seemed to be on Caroline's team for he too looked as if he considered that the word 'normal' and 'Originals' being in the same sentence as utterly impossible, and funny.

"I highly doubt it," Elijah joined in.

"I mean, the two brother's trying to make sure the younger ones are in line, the third one with middle child problems… and the younger brother who taunts the little sister… the little sister craving attention," Stefan beamed at Rebekah, who looked slightly disappointed of his assessment of her, "if that's not normal I don't know what is… Well you guys are no Brady Bunch but still… I'll say pretty close," Stefan shrugged, making Caroline smile yet again.

"Brady Bunch?" Finn looked at Stefan puzzled.

"What about the girl the two brothers are fawning over?" Kol wriggled his eye brows.

Caroline was heard gasping a breath possibly trying to get a hold of her nerve while Klaus glared, his nerve completely lost.

Kol finally put the spoon down as he had finished eating his crème brûlée, "No need to get your knickers in a twist Nik… I wasn't talking about you… I was implying about Elijah and I…" with a smile he answered to Klaus's ominous glare.

Caroline shifted in her chair uneasily, preempting the disaster that was about to take place.

"So you do like her then?" Klaus turned around to face his younger brother, his hand tapping on the table a bit as if he was counting the seconds it would take him to give up his restrains.

"Niklaus! This is not the time or the place," Elijah shouted, his worried eyes searching for Caroline.

"I think it's the perfect time and place, now that we all are gathered here we can sort everything out," Klaus eyed all parties involved.

Finn sighed foreseeing where the conversation may be heading and shoved some crème brûlée into his mouth, for it may not be long before the desserts would be splatted art on the walls of the house.

"Sort what out? There's nothing to be sorted!" Kol grunted, his usual carefree tone vanished, no trace of his usual mischievous grin.

"Kol calm down," Rebekah, put her hand on Kol's shoulder

Klaus gripped his fork tightly and stabbed it on the dining table.

Caroline jolted at the sound; she looked too hesitant to look up at either one of the brothers.

Kol gripped a knife he'd found on the table.

Stefan was seen asking something from Caroline, but she was silent, she was focused on one of the spiral patterns on the pine wood dining table as if she hated that damn spot.

"Niklaus," Elijah growled, but Klaus could barely hear him, the anger that was throbbing inside of him was pounding in his ears.

"Answer my question Kol!" Klaus shouted his hand pulling out the fork he had just thrust on the table.

"What if I do like her?" Kol followed suit, and Rebekah held onto his hand, which Kol thoughtlessly shoved away.

Caroline threw the napkin she had on her lap on to the table. "I'm going to my room! This is just a stupid conversation that's going to ruin everyone's night!" She stood up.

"No! Sit!" Still holding his glare towards Kol, Klaus harshly pulled Caroline down from her hand back to her seat, leaving Caroline little to no time to protest.

Stefan got up, and drew Caroline by her hand, "Let's get out of here Caroline,"

Klaus' stare then fell up on Caroline, "Tell your friend to sit love… or I will kill him," He ordered, the rage in his eyes darkening his features, his eyes turning amber to red and settling on a dead black.

Caroline knew him well enough to understand that it was no joke, no empty threat, "Stefan," Caroline gently urged Stefan to sit back down, grabbing his jacket.

"Stefan Please," Rebekah pleaded, and at the two blondes request Stefan sat down, his jaws clenching as he had no choice but to sit there and watch his friend sit uneasily.

"Do you care for her?" Klaus bellowed throwing the fork in his hand to the middle of the table, the fire in his eyes could be seen from a mile across.

"This conversation should end right now!" Finn hit the table making the plates wobble, making few glasses of blood and wine tumble, thus making the two red liquids mesh together and drip slowly from one side of the table.

"Stay out of this Finn!" Klaus roared and got up clamping his fists, "Kol! Do you care for her?"

"You know I always had," It may have not been the best time to be showing his arrogant smile, but it was exactly what Kol had done.

Klaus picked up a bottle of blood and threw it towards Kol's head.

Kol ducked and the bottle hit the wall behind him, smashing it, spraying blood all over the newly painted white wall.

The sudden sound had made few more of the sired vampires gather at the entrance to the dining room.

"Niklaus, let's calm down and talk about this," Elijah got up and stood behind Klaus, wanting to make sure that at the end of the discussion he won't be short of a brother for the next couple of centuries.

But neither one of the younger brothers were in a mood to listen to their elders, neither wanted to throw in the towel.

Caroline held onto Stefan's arm to make sure her friend didn't do anything stupid.

"Is that why you compelled her?" Klaus darted at Kol, and grabbed him by his coat.

"Compelled her? Why in the world would I compel her?" Kol laughed, but the amusement of it all was lost on Klaus.

It may have not been the ideal method to get answers, but Caroline stared quietly as if she too was eager to know whether there was any truth to what Klaus had said about them, what he had alluded to have happened in India.

"Nik!" Rebekah was standing in between them, hoping Klaus would at least consider stopping the madness.

"It's alright Bekah," Kol ensured, nodding asking Rebekah to step back.

Rebekah unwillingly moved back, as Finn too had come behind her and had started to drag her away from the brawling brothers.

Elijah desperately tried to get Klaus to release Kol from his clasp.

"Did you make her forget about what happened between us in India?" He wanted this mystery resolved more than anything, he wanted it to not to be Kol more than anything, he truly didn't want it to be either of his brothers, but the clues so definitely pointed at them, and he hated it.

"First of all I never met her in India and second of all what happened between the two of you? Tell me all the details... it seems like something I would want to know," Kol all of a sudden seemed highly amused, the not so little tiff almost forgotten and forgiven.

"Stop acting like you don't know anything Kol?" Klaus shook his brother.

"May be he truly doesn't know anything, Niklaus… may be it was someone else...?" Elijah said, his voice low as if he was talking to himself, "May be our... father?" he added bit more loudly.

"You were right Caroline toasting 'To family' was funny," Finn commented, folding his arms, tired of the drama.

"Did you compel her?" Klaus repeated.

"Wasn't Elijah in India too… why aren't you suspecting him of compelling her?" Kol pointed at Elijah, and it seemed Kol looked to want to cause more menace than to want to dodge Klaus' question.

"And what if one of them did compel her? According to you it's not that big of a deal… I mean you did erase Stefan's whole memory about me?" Rebekah shouted angrily, her eyes peering at Stefan.

Klaus turned to the younger Salvatore, at the way Caroline was holding on to his arm.

"What?" Stefan automatically stood up; Caroline could no longer keep him seated.

"Apparently you two were lovers," Kol as always added bluntly.

Finn and Elijah made some annoyed noises at Kol who simply smirked at his brothers.

"No… but…" Stefan mumbled, his stare falling between Kol who answered his question, Klaus who supposedly had erased his memory, and Rebekah, who according to Kol had been his lover.

"It's true… Stefan," Caroline stood up, her hand rested on his hand, trying to calm her friend.

"You knew?" Stefan took his hand back.

"I'm sorry… I thought it would be for the best… I was just trying to protect you from being the old Stefan again… because she at that time was trying to…" Caroline stuttered, looking down.

"I can't believe you kept this from me!" Stefan distanced himself from Caroline.

Klaus saw a tear drop drip from Caroline's eye along her cheek, and shouted "We'll talk about the ripper days some other time!"

Elijah walked a step in Caroline's direction, "Caroline?" His voice was barely audible.

"Stefan, I'm sorry…" Caroline cried her hand shaking as it tried to reach her friend.

Stefan just ignored her completely and looked over at Rebekah who looked as broken or even more broken than Caroline.

"What a mess you've made of everyone's lives Niklaus?" Finn's eyes went over to all the damaged faces around the room.

Klaus took a sharp turn towards the eldest Mikaelson and Kol took the opportunity and slowly slithered to the back.

Klaus made his way towards Finn, who stood his ground even though Klaus had that look in his eyes that meant he wouldn't think twice to dagger him again, "What a mess I've made?" Klaus yelled, "Yes put the blame on me, that's new isn't it… If it weren't for me neither one of you will be sitting in this table together, If it weren't for me Sage won't be alive… do not talk about things you don't know Finn,"

"What do you mean if it weren't for you Sage won't be alive?" It seemed Klaus' statement not only surprised Finn but everyone else in the room as well, for Klaus saving a life of another may have seemed impossible, unless he had a hidden agenda, of course.

"That's another story for another day brother," Klaus turned around to look at Kol putting on a contrived smile, "So where was I?"

"I told you! I didn't compel her!" Kol at once stated.

"I believe him Niklaus," Caroline voiced, taking a very apprehensive step towards Klaus.

Klaus took Kol by his collar as he glared at Caroline, fuming, "Of course you would… I saw how you were so happy to have him sitting on you in the morning,"

"Have you gone mad?" Kol snickered shaking his head, rolling his brown eyes, "Can't you understand I play around with her just because I want to taunt you Nik? I do care for her Nik, like a sister, like I care for Bekah… and Caroline knows it… and I think she goes along with it only because she enjoys that look you give," Kol pointed his index finger at Klaus' face to show he was implying to the expression Klaus had on at that exact moment.

"So you didn't compel her?" Klaus' hands slowly came off of Kol, as he had found his brother's words to be sincere, though he had conveniently ignored the latter part of Kol's statement.

Kol nodded in reply.

"No!" Klaus screamed, holding his head, "Then if it's not Elijah, if it's not you… It can't be our father… can it? He wasn't there? How could he know to erase that exact memory?" He backed away from his brother, "No! One of you, are lying! I know it!" Klaus' eyes pointed at Elijah, Kol and Caroline.

Elijah was silent, Caroline stood alone helplessly watching Klaus change to some sort of a manic creature, a man possessed by something pure evil.

Rebekah clung to Finn's arm, as she watched Klaus crumble.

"Sorry Nik, It truly wasn't me..." Kol seemed worried after Klaus for once; he seemed a bit concerned by his brother's state, looking as though he was guilty somehow.

"It's you then…" Klaus pointed at Caroline, "You're lying, you can remember!"

"Me?" Caroline stared in shock, pointing her finger at herself. "Niklaus… I'm not lying… I don't remember and even if you found out who's lying, it won't make me remember, and it truly wouldn't change my opinion of you! I'm sure of it," Caroline blurted, frustrated by the accusations he had thrown at her.

It was supposed to be simply physical, a night of passion driven by the lust he had felt for her blood, it may have hurt his ego when she had left without telling him, there was nothing more to it than that, but the blood bond, the discovery of the fact Caroline was chosen for the ridiculous bond in the first place because he supposedly had chosen her to be his mate, was trying to put ideas in to his head and he just couldn't have it.

He couldn't have her say such words and aim to hurt him, he just couldn't let her succeed, he reminded himself, and thus he blamed her. He just wanted to blame someone for the hurt and he had chosen her, stupidly so, "You're pretending not to remember because you regret it…" There was no other explanation, he thought.

"Niklaus you're being ridiculous," Elijah interjected.

"I don't even know what really happened… " Caroline declared, tears falling from her eyes washing the blue away from it, making them look pale, almost dead.

"Don't lie to me!" Klaus ran towards her, gripped her by her arms.

"Why do you do this every time Niklaus?" her eyes showed sadness, detest, reflection of his own revolting figure self-destruct in front of her, "Why do you always think I'm the one who'd betray you,"

"Because you did once and I'm not stupid enough to believe you won't do it again," He let her go slightly pushing her back, with his stare never torn away from her.

"Do you still think we are normal?" Kol asked Stefan who was in a daze to even answer what the Original had asked.

Klaus gazed at Caroline as her hand came up and wiped away the tears in her eyes.

He turned his back to her.

"Nik!" He could hear her desperate voice utter softly, but he walked off.

Outside was dark, cold, the dead wind blew very quietly, giving very little clues of its existence.

Klaus' legs had taken him inside the hedge maze that lay on the middle of the garden.

He walked aimlessly among the hedges, but somehow had managed to end up at the fountain placed in the center of the labyrinth.

He stared at the discolored walls of the fountain, at the dead yellow leaves that lay where once clear water was, as his workers still hadn't gotten around to mending the once glorious fountain.

As Klaus stood under the dark clouds that gathered up above hiding the stars, giving away signs of a storm that was up ahead, he felt his anger slowly fade, the rush slowly die.

He realized how foolishly he had reacted, and he feared it may be all too late as always to mend things.

"Nik…" Caroline had pursued him, "I really don't remember, I'm not lying,"

Her soft plea assured him she wasn't lying, maybe he had known always, but he simply wanted to find a reason for her lost memory and get it done with, find a reason why she had left him that morning and move on, that's all he wanted he believed, to find the culprit and be done with it.

"Do you know I made this where your hut used to be?" He said without even turning to look at her. He chose to change the subject, for 'moving on' didn't seem to be something that came easily for a thousand year old original vampire with an impeccable memory, an almost impeccable memory for Caroline's mere presence reminded him that there was a year of his life missing and reminded him his memory may not be as seamless as he thought.

Caroline stood next to him, her gaze too fixed on the corroded fountain, "What really happened that night? Did we really…"

"I already told you what happened Caroline!" He wanted to go back, run, but as soon as he had faced her, he felt he had forgotten his way out of the labyrinth, which he would have sworn few minutes ago that he knew as well as the back of his hand.

"I know you said it but... we.. us," She stopped herself, her eyes getting caught on something within his.

He caught her by her forearms "We made love Caroline… we made love…" He had not remembered saying that four letter word with such meaning and intensity. He only remembered using it to ridicule those who believed in it. He was certain, after he had become the vile creature he was now, if he had ever used that word he would have only used to describe it as a weakness. Yet now the way the word had come out frightened him, made him feel like he wasn't himself. He only wanted to get to the bottom of the problem he had no other intentions, he had believed, but this admission had come all of a sudden and it confused him.

Caroline drew her arms back, "I… thought you were just…"

"Lying?" He spat, "Why would I lie about something like that? What would I gain from it?" He dared to catch her hands again, but she didn't allow him, she moved back.

"I don't know, but the rumor is you never do anything without an ulterior motive," She hissed, and he opted to turn to the fountain, realizing that he couldn't dismiss her accusation completely, though their night in India was no lie, it didn't happen with any ulterior motive behind it, but his reputation made it harder for him to convince her of that.

"Precisely…" She said sternly, with a venomous smile, "Anyway… if this is true… what do you think is going to happen when and if I remember this so called memory in India! Ok Fine! Let's say we made love… but that doesn't mean I would want for it to happen again!"

He didn't think anything could hurt him, let alone some words coming from a vampire he had hated and threatened to kill for years, a vampire he had hated for she had left him without giving him a reason, a vampire who had driven him to madness in search of the truth, in search of a reason, but it did hurt him and it wasn't the first time, though he would never dare to admit it.

"Do you think I will remember that one night and forget all the horrible things you tried to do?" She was putting up a wall, and he could almost see it.

"But you should understand how it feels… to know something like that and for the other to not accept it?" Surely if there was such a memory forgotten by him, surely she of all people should understand why he was acting as so, why he was so desperate to find the truth.

"I know exactly how it feels and you know what? That's exactly why I may have left you that night… I might not remember what happened, but I'm sure as hell that I wouldn't have stayed with you because I… hate you… I hate you for acting like you never remember a whole year of your life…" She turned away sharply.

He darted and stood in front of her attempting not to think about the strange sting in his chest he felt at her words, "Caroline… do you think I'm trying to act like I don't know anything? That I'm lying?" His voce became softer, though his eyes bore into her firmly.

She scoffed, pushing him back, "Well didn't you accuse me of the same… so can't I accuse you? I mean at least I can be compelled to forget but... you… you have no excuse…" She looked away, stared at the nothingness to the right of him.

"I'm not acting love… I don't remember anything, tell me what happened…" He didn't know why he felt, his guts turn whenever she looked away from him not wanting to believe him, "What reason would I have to lie about it when I'm so desperate for you to remember that night we spent together? Why can't you believe me?" He felt not himself again, not like 'Klaus', but the 'Niklaus Mikaelson' he was thousand years ago.

She smiled wickedly, almost with a hint of sadness, and it didn't look natural on her; it was fake, made up to hide her real thoughts, "How does that feel Niklaus? When someone doesn't want to believe you when you're screaming and begging them to believe you?"

He smirked at her poor attempt to seem heartless, "So you're not willing to believe me just because thousand years ago I didn't believe you... Is this your payback Caroline?"

"You can take it any way you like…" Even the darkness couldn't hide her teary blue orbs, "but just know I don't believe you when you say… you don't remember or we…"

"Caroline," He wanted to say something, and he felt the distance between them was not quite right to convey it properly, too much in fact for him to say whatever he wanted to say, thus he grabbed her by her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"Leave me alone!" She struggled under his touch, under his gaze, and before he could say or do anything further she had slapped him for the second time, and he felt that this time it hurt him more, and maybe he deserved it more as well.

She stared at him, he stared back.

She had come there may be to console him, talk to him about what had happened to them, but he had once again managed to let it spiral into something else, something complicated, that helped her remember how much and why she hated him, help him remember he didn't deserve nothing more than to be hated by her, hated by everyone around him for that matter.

She ran off suddenly, and he could hear the hedges move as she ran amidst them.

He wanted to go after her, but he feared he would say something foolish, say something that would make him believe Caroline was a different kind of a weakness other than the one Ayana had made out of her.

Klaus spent most of the night at the center of the labyrinth, waiting for the voices inside the mansion to die down, until they turned in for the night, so that he didn't have to face any of them, answer any of their questions.

A stroke of lightening cracked the dark sky, bringing the cover of clouds from hiding. The delayed and the not so sharp grumble it gave off indicated that it may have occurred somewhere far across town, but the little drizzle that followed the sound, implied that in a little while lightning may strike the sky right above his head. Thus he slowly and reluctantly headed back to the mansion.

When Klaus reached there, his family had all scattered, may be to their rooms, Kol probably looking for a bit of a midnight snack, but either way thankfully he didn't have to deal with any of them as he went to his room, making sure his eyes wouldn't stray towards Caroline's door, where she probably may be.

He jumped into his bed, without even taking off his shoes.

Klaus ran his fingers through his hair that was slightly wet by the bit of rain that he was caught in and he cursed himself for thinking that the safest place for Caroline to be was the room across to his, for his mind had begun to urge him yet again to go to her, just cross the stupid hallway and go to her.

Yet he stayed back for he didn't know what he was to say to her when she opened the door, what excuse would he give when he found himself stumbling on his words for he had no clear reason to be standing in front of her, when he had no clear excuse for his behavior.

He sighed, and turned to the window and watched the tiny drops of water hit the glass.

But the rain couldn't hold his attention for long, for he could hear her shifting in her bed, maybe he was crazy but he thought the little moans he heard escaping from her lips now and again were calling his name.

He decided he needed no more excuse than the fact she called his name to get off of his bed and walk over to the door that led to that few feet of hallway which kept their rooms apart.

He pondered for a moment before he opened his door; he only needed to hear one slower moan to provoke him to walk out into the hallway.

He concentrated hard at the newly put up wooden door that blocked the entrance to Caroline's room, trying not to listen to the part of his head that told him, he should just turn around.

"Nik," It was either a stupid noise he heard coming from his chest, or she was actually calling him in her sleep, but either way that one word he thought she voiced made him disremember everything else.

Klaus took a step towards her door.

He was going to knock, but then opted to try turning the knob; it opened easily without any noise being made.

The large window on the opposite side of her room had managed to let the just the right amount of light into it through its white laced curtains to shed light on to the very large bed. The spontaneous lightening that struck ever so often made the room turn bluish time to time.

He went closer to the bed, stood over it and looked down.

There lay his weakness, sleeping, covering herself in her sheets very poorly, her lean smooth legs were left exposed, the little barely there negligée she wore had too run up to her thighs, the strips of which had fallen off her shoulders showing off a bit of cleavage as she lay on to her side with her wavy hair spread across her pillow, few shorter ones covering her face.

"Nik," This time she certainly called his name.

He took a curious step, his hand reaching to touch her, to know her secrets, to know what she was dreaming about.

He closed his eyes and entered her dream, hoping he wouldn't regret it.

He was pulled into a large room within her dream. It was lighted with candles, and by the look of it he thought it had to be somewhere around the tenth and the eleventh century.

In the middle of the room he saw a fairly large bed, cloths thrown all over the floor next to it.

With a closer look Klaus noticed two figures sleeping curled up together. It didn't take him much time to realize that it was himself lying next to Caroline, her head nestled below his shoulder, their naked bodies wrapped up and hidden underneath red silk sheets.

Her eyes were closed and she seemed asleep; Klaus saw himself staring at her admiring the contour of her body, his index finger lightly running down her arm that was draped across his chest.

There was something about her sleeping figure, the posture, the expression on her sleeping face that reminded him of something, but he couldn't just pin point as to what.

Klaus could not understand what he was seeing, a fantasy, may be one of the days that they spent together in that span of a year that he couldn't remember, he thought confusedly as he looked on trying to understand, to learn what made her call out his name in her sleep.

He looked on as the figures in Caroline's dream began to talk.

"_What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Her eyes opened lazily to look up at the Klaus who was in bed with her, her messy golden hair trickling on his skin._

"_You are beautiful," His dream version said, taking her hand from his chest to his mouth he placed a kiss on her fragile wrist._

_She made a face, her eyes mockingly narrowed at him, "Is this the same Niklaus who told me, that only a bind man would marry me?" Her hand grabbed his ear as if to punish him._

"_The very same," He kissed the corner of her mouth, as if to tease her, as if just to watch her lips part with want, watch her eyes flutter and close._

_When he didn't kiss her as she wanted she looked at him crossly and slid out of his arms, holding the sheet closely to her chest as she straddled herself upon him, with her back completely exposed, with the curves of her breasts only barely hidden by the sheet, yet still covered nonetheless._

_Wanting to see her completely exposed, he tugged on the silly sheet, "I cannot believe we wasted so much of our time hating each other, when we could have been doing this," he sat up, with his hands holding her waist. _

_She began to draw patterns on his chest with one hand as the other one held on to the sheet tightly._

_She smilingly fought off the kisses that he was trying to lay on her neck, "But Niklaus you need to promise me you won't harm the Petrovas, I do not want to break my promise to your mother," She was holding on to the sheet as if she waiting for him to agree to her conditions, using a playful smile to hide the seriousness of what she was asking him to do, "Niklaus will you promise me?"_

_He looked at her as if he was not about to promise her things he was not sure he would be able to up hold. _

_Then, in a moment not so soon he grabbed her face and kissed her, making the sheets fall off her grasp and making her frown disappear as her hands frantically began to run on his chest before coming to cup his face._

_Her moans started to fill the room, as he brought her closer to his body._

_He then suddenly drew away from her lips, so that his eyes could proudly gaze at the effect his hand had on her bare body as it moved down through the valley of her breasts, gently gracing her skin yearning to feel her heated core._

_Still shivering with pleasure, gasping at his soft touch, at his maddening slow movements, she lifted his head up to her face and smiled cheekily, opening her mouth as if craving to taste his blood; and he allowed it, he allowed her to take possession of his neck and taste him as much as she wanted._

_As he was about to open his mouth to dig into her neck, the door suddenly came ajar, someone entered the room hastily, "Lord Klaus… there's some news about you father…" Realizing the position his master was in the man quickly turned his eyes to the floor._

"_What about my father?" He positioned himself in away so that his body shielded Caroline as she slid off of him and hid herself properly under the covers._

"_It seems he is on his way here, there is some talk of him bringing in someone to kill you and Caroline Archer," The man wouldn't dare to look up and risk getting his eyes pulled out by his sire._

"_Go now! And make sure no one can get in!" He ordered as he picked up his cloths from the floor._

"_Yes my lord," The man bowed his head and went out closing the door behind him._

"_What are we going to do Nik?" Caroline sat on the bed wearing the sheet around her chest, watching him get dressed._

"_You need to get out of here!" He placed a kiss on her forehead, and handed her clothes to her._

"_What do you mean I need to get out of here? We both need to go!" with a frown on her face She pulled the dress over her head._

"_I think he may have found out about us… I don't want you to get hurt!" He walked over to the window and peered through it._

"_No I won't leave you," She came behind him and put her hands around his waist._

_He turned around and held her from her hips, "Please you have to go love, I will stay here and make sure he won't come after you," He kissed her deeply, only let go because he had to, "Go!" he pleaded._

"_I love you… I can't leave you... I won't!" She held on to him tightly, resting her head on his chest._

_They could hear horses coming their way, possibly his father._

"_Caroline! Listen to me… Get away from here… Go as far away as possible…" He lifted her face gently by her chin, and looked into her eyes, "Don't make me compel you to leave Caroline… please go!"_

"_But…" She protested and he placed a kiss on her lips, making her stop talking any further, "Go!" he yelled_

"_Nik!" She shook her head, in protest._

"_Please go! I promise I will be safe, I will come looking for you when all this is over... please go!" He begged. Tears were looming in his eyes as he watched Caroline smear her own tears and breathe in as if to take courage. _

_She pulled him closer and invaded his mouth with a passionate kiss, "I love you Nik," She gazed into him, "I love you and do not forget it," _

"_I will not, I promise," He smiled placing a kiss behind her ear._

_She turned to him, what seemed like for the one last time and stood on the window ledge and after some contemplation jumped off the castle window which was two stories above ground level._

_He swiftly looked down out of the window._

_She was standing below looking up at him, her eyes teary and thinking of coming back to him._

"_I love you Caroline…" He mouthed quietly to himself and she dashed away._

The dream world started to fade and smudge and turned into some other place, for She was dreaming of something else now, some other time, perhaps a different memory.

Klaus found himself in front of a room that seemed very familiar.

He saw Caroline leaning near a slightly opened door and listening to a conversation, her eyes peeking in a bit.

Klaus too looked inside giving his ear too to the conversation.

_"Niklaus what is all this?" He heard Elijah's voice from the inside of the room._

_"I hate her!" He heard himself utter angrily._

_"What? But… why would you keep sketching the person you hate?" Elijah asked in a very concerned voice_

_"You're right brother," He said before he threw the pieces of parchment into the fire, "I hope I never see your face again Caroline … And I wish you too brother would not talk to me about her from here on end," _

_Tears rolled down Caroline's eyes at his words, and she stepped back ripping her eyes from the scene._

"_What was that sound? I think there's someone outside!" Elijah's footsteps were heard approaching the door, and before Elijah could get there Caroline was already gone._

Klaus was more than sure that this was no mere dream, no mere fantasy, for he could so vividly remember burning the pictures of her, trying to burn whatever pestering feelings he felt for her.

He unconsciously took his hand back from her and he was thrown out of her dream to reality, back to her bedroom across to his, in his Mystic Falls mansion.

Had she really been there, he thought, had she really heard his harsh words, or else how else could she have known about the conversation to even dream of it, he kept wondering as he stared at her, stared at Caroline who was probably still dreaming, with her forehead glowing with sweat as she shifted on her bed.

"No.." Klaus heard her murmur in her sleep. However much he wanted to know what else she was dreaming about, it scared him, for he thought she may be dreaming about another one of his heartless actions, he had either unknowingly or knowingly had done, thus he backed away from her bed, still staring at her shuddering figure until his back hit the door.

The noise made her stir even more and Klaus quickly opened the door and ran out of the room.

Klaus could no longer even think about hiding in his room, no longer pretend to sleep, and pretend to ignore her presence, ignore the dreams he had seen, which probably were her memories, memories aroused by their argument by the fountain.

Thus he went further up the stairs, which led him to the opened roof top of the mansion, abandoning his room altogether.

From there the whole sky was visible, every lightning that ripped the sky apart was visible, and as he leaned on to the little barrier at the edge, from afar he could see the little stream that he used to find solace in, still flow as freely as ever amongst the rocks.

He hardly felt the bit of rain drops that fell onto him as he mused over what he had witnessed. He couldn't believe the way the two of them were playing about the bed together within the dream, he didn't want it to be a memory, for how could he have forgotten such an incident, for how could she had kept it from him for so long, he thought; thus it had to be just a dream, a nightmare perhaps, he figured.

A crashing sound of thunder demanded his attention, and he looked up at the sky, only to catch the remnants of the blue lightning, that had drawn shapes on the black sky.

Then it hit him, like lightening itself, he realized why he had found something familiar in her sleeping posture when he saw the image of her with him in bed within her dream, for it was the same posture of her he had started to paint but could never bring himself to finish, the one in the faceless painting he had thought that mattered to him the most, because he had thought it made him seek perfection in his art, the painting he had secretly kept hidden until his father burnt it along with his room.

"Niklaus, I was looking for you and Bekah said I might find you here," Elijah was standing next to him, and Klaus had not even noticed him coming up to him until he spoke.

"What do you want Elijah?" Klaus didn't even try to look at his brother.

"I came to tell you that…" Elijah stuttered, his voice was low.

"That what I did was wrong and I was being irrational?" Klaus lashed off, and waited for his brother to repeat his words.

"I came to tell you that…" Elijah paused, his head bowed down, sound of thunder filled their ears, "It was me who compelled Caroline to forget about that night in India," He looked up at Klaus only after saying the words, looking for forgiveness, looking at Klaus as if asking to be given a chance to explain himself before he got daggered.

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**A/N: **I was hoping to finish this story about in 12- 13 chapters before, but it may go longer than that... I hope the dream sequences weren't confusing, because I had a very hard time writing that... it almost made me erase the whole chapter and rewrite... I think by now you may have guessed what happened to Klaus' memory.

I'm hoping to explain how Klaus and Caroline came to being together that year and what actually happened Klaus' memory and why Elijah had compelled Caroline... and what happens in the present time of course... oh and how Klaus saved Sage's life...

**LightFiction, Curious Blonde, and KtClaire... **so happy you all are enjoying the story... thanks for the reviews again..

**softballlover298 **I hope this chapter answered your question a little bit.

and **Pinkgem22 **I'm glad that you loved that the Mikaelsons are back because I wasn't really sure if I should bring all of them back or not at the beginning..

**justine **thanks for your encouraging review again... :)


	12. Author Note

**A/N: **Sorry this is not an update... I just want to let you all know that I won't be able to update till after 8th April, because that's when my exams will be over, i've already written the next chapter half way, and I will update it as soon as I can..

Anyway, hope you all are ready for TVD tonight, 4x18... I just can't wait, can't concentrate on my studying even.


	13. The Tempest

**A/N:** Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites. Thanks for being patient also :) Sorry I took so much time to update, I was a bit busy. I didn't get to check mistakes in this that much, but I thought I post it anyway because I've not updated for weeks. So it might have bit more mistakes than normal. So I'm sorry about that, but I'll try to correct any mistakes as soon as possible.

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**The Tempest**

_Everything was white, and as far as he could see there was nothing but a blinding white, a glistening white. _

_He looked back at the trail he had made, his feet had dug holes in the otherwise unscathed bed of snow, denting its flawlessness, polluting its purity._

_His eyes scanned the empty grounds, no trace of a tree, a life; no trace of whom or whatever he was looking for, yet his ears luckily caught a sound, a whisper, a coo or may be a cry. _

_He followed the sound, hoping it would lead him to what he had been searching._

_In a little while he learnt, that he was no longer the lone thing that stood in the midst of the infinite white, for that shadowy sound had pulled him into a forest, where more than a few trees stood high and proud and covered with the same pallor as the ground they were rooted in._

_As he ran, the icy wind that blew audaciously almost cut his skin whenever it changed course. _

_He watched the fast falling crystals gleam as they caught the yellowy sunbeams. They fell as if to hide any markings or clues that may have been left on the snow bed by any creature or man that had roamed the forest ahead of him._

_Again he heard a sound, a sound of restrained footsteps scurrying off behind him._

_Quickly, he turned but found no one; he found only few small fresh sets of foot prints which this time around neither the wind nor the falling snow had been fast enough to cover._

_He pursued the prints, and his vigilance allowed his senses to capture even the smallest shift, the smallest sound, and definitely a scent that seemed to allure him deeper into the white sheened forest. _

_He halted, his eyes catching a white clothed figure; a woman, tactfully disappear behind a snowy slope._

_His feet began to move quicker, and he leapt over fallen trees as he sped after her, all the while with a lingering feeling that he was running into a trap, yet it seemed he was willing to be trapped by this white clothed woman for some reason._

_Few yards ahead, he saw her hazy figure appear once more._

_She was swift, too swifter to be a mere mortal, too swifter be a mere vampire, yet he caught up to her nevertheless and held her by the hand and turned her around, "Going somewhere Caroline?"_

_Her cold hand he sensed warm up as he dragged her closer to him, he saw the bit of snow resting on her face slowly fade as an angry blush took over her cheeks. He studied her closely, the way the hood of her cloak only let few strands of her hair peek out, and the way her lips danced readying themselves to say something spiteful._

_Her piercing blue eyes glared at him as if trying to melt his cold gaze that fell upon her. "Let go of me Niklaus!" She warned, struggling, wanting to be released of his hold, but he simply slid his other hand upon the soft textures of her white fur cloak, snaking it around her small waist to grab her closer. It may have been couple of decades since the last time he had seen her, but it felt like he had found her again after centuries, especially since it was the first time he had seen her after he had used his blood to turn her into a creature of the night, just like himself._

_He had to keep reminding himself that the warmth of the woman he felt against his skin was not of his friend but of the woman who had betrayed him by breaking her promise to him._

_She then with a sudden move got out of his grasp and attacked him, pinning him down to the cold ground, using her weight to thrust him down. _

_The hood she had worn over her head had fallen back in the process, so when she would move her head the bits of snow tangled in her gold strands would fly off and land on his face. _

_He smiled as if he was tickled by the scraps of snow that fell on his cheeks, "Not bad Caroline Archer, but not good enough," His grin got wider before he turned them over so he would be the one to keep her pinned to the ground, "The trick is to never to get caught Caroline, because once I catch someone, I never let them escape… well at least not alive," _

_His smirking face was replied to by an angry growl, with a frail attempt to push him off. The tries, her fights, the movements she made lying beneath him made her look all the more engaging, thus he stayed there staring, bestrode on top of her as if enraptured by her glare, and it took him a few seconds to recover and bring himself to mouth a few words again, "Where is she?" He lowered himself and roared in her ear, making her eyes stray over his shoulder and flutter as his breath hit her ear lobes, making her lips tremble slightly when he took in her scent. _

_The bewitching aroma of her blood made him move his mouth down towards her neck line with quite daring intentions._

_She, alarmed by the closeness of his lips quickly maneuvered her neck away from his mouth._

"_You and I both know you have never been good at keeping secrets… so my dear Caroline, stop wasting time trying to hide her, trying to keep her whereabouts a secret and tell me where she is… I know you have hidden her somewhere around here!" He ruthlessly took her face by her chin, just to catch a much clearer view of her brutal stare._

_She puffed, and her eyes rolled. She surly may have been trying to counterattack with some words of her own, with something or the other, yet a sharp cry of a woman coming out of nowhere seemed to have clogged her words somewhere in the back of her throat, for her mouth promptly closed at the sound and gulped loudly as her eyes widened in dismay._

"_It seems I may not need your help after all," He grabbed Caroline by her wrist and stood up and started to run towards where he thought he heard the wailing. _

_He managed to drag Caroline along with him in spite of her pull to the opposite direction._

_The cries became sharper, more augmented, and more regular as he went further into the forest through the hailing snow that showed no signs of dimming down._

"_Let me go!" Caroline kicked him on the back of his knee to stop him from advancing, though it barely hurt, she got his attention nonetheless and thus he turned, but so did the wind for the worst, for it stormed frenziedly upon the snow, perturbing the little crystals to hover around, giving rise to a dense fog that walled him from Caroline. _

_The only thing he could now see of her were her eyes, the only thing he could feel other than the coldness that wrapped him was the warmth of her skin on his hand. _

_She was saying something, shouting in protest, professing her hatred or something akin, yet all he did was stare at her blue eyes that stood out against the white of the snow._

_If not for the continuing screams of the woman that they heard from a far, he may have forgotten why he was there, and for no reason at all, he may have stood there simply holding the hand of the woman who he deemed he hated._

_He turned and drew Caroline sternly by her wrist as he went after the shrilling sound once more; he darted off blindly as for the thick cloud of snow that hovered about did not let him see nothing at all of what lay ahead._

_The voice had taken him yet again to a plain turf of snow, he twirled slowly in one spot, with Caroline secured in his grasp, waiting for another scream to point him to the right direction._

"_You'll never find her!" Caroline laughed, yet her eyes contradicted what she had said for she looked about fretfully, giving away the fact that he may be closer to his goal than he had thought._

_Another yelp, definitely a sound of a woman in pain called their attention, "You are wrong Caroline, this time I will find her," It was his time to laugh, for he had spotted a snow covered rock, a cave that had been lying camouflaged in the snow, which he was certain where the blaring had come out._

"_No!" Caroline's screams merely helped him affirm he was darting in the right direction._

_Ignoring Caroline's constant tug to turn him around, he reached the cave. _

_The cave entrance was covered by a heavy round rock, and a few snow covered branches were carefully placed to hide the fact that there was an entrance at all, that it was indeed a cave at all._

"_I will not let you take her!" Caroline still in his clasp had spun herself around so that she would be standing in between the entrance and him._

_He let go of her wrist and yanked her by the back of her head, his fingers tangled themselves in her silky blonde hair, and he brought her face closer to his, "You have kept her away from me long enough!" like a deadly knife searching for its target, the index finger of his other hand ran down from the soft skin of the side of her neck and stopped right under the middle of her collar bone, above the little cleavage her fur coat allowed to peep out. The contact seemed to have made her ruddy and weak, as if there had been some kind of an invisible magic that had run through his finger._

_His lips naturally curved into a devilish smirk seeing that he had made Caroline too frail to even utter a word._

"_If you do not want to have a stake through your heart I suggest you be quiet," He breathed the words into her face, before he let go of her hair and tugged her by the arm and brought her to stand behind him. _

_Then he began to push the large rock that barricaded the entrance aside. _

"_No... No... No… you can't take her!" She chanted to herself._

_The branches slid and fell down as he moved the rock far enough for both of them to enter. "Let us go in, shall we?" he pulled Caroline inside with him._

_He could hear the cries of the woman he'd been searching for stream out from the cave that seemed to run deeper than it first appeared from the outside. _

_The cold world seemed to have had a less of a bearing on the temperature inside of the cave, though the iced glazed floor and icicles hanging from its ceilings and walls, and some that stood in the center as if pillars made of crystals, proved it had not been completely immune to the cold either._

_He could see a yellowish red light dancing, lighting up a dark wall some feet away, and it seemed it was the reflection of a fire that may have been set up, from where the cries spawned._

_With his prisoner well and steadily grasped, he strolled further inside._

_Caroline's face held a vexed countenance as they both approached the fire, "How is Thea?" Caroline inquired from the man that was kneeling next to a young brunette who was lying on the ground with her legs parted for she was about to give birth to her child._

_The young woman's brown locks were matted to her head with sweat, her brown eyes were tired and seemed dim, yet he knew who she was at one glance. She may not be the doppelganger of Tatia, but the fact that the brunette resting on the ground was Tatia's daughter was unmistakable, for he remembered the day he held her in his arms when she was a newborn, he remembered those brown eyes, he remembered how he had left her with Caroline without knowing who she was, without knowing that she may be one of the key ingredients in breaking his curse, and he grudgingly remembered leaving her that day in the woods without knowing that Caroline would forever risk her life to save the Petrova bloodline from him. A sigh escaped him, for he had finally found who he had been chasing, 'Thea' Tatia Petrova's bastard daughter. _

"_What is he doing here?" The man who had been tending to Thea stood up._

"_Doran I am sorry," As Caroline heard Thea wail in pain she tried to twist her wrist and be released, yet he did not yield to any of her attempts._

_Keeping his glare fixed on Doran, he turned Caroline's arm so that it went behind her back, "It seems that you must be Thea's husband, the father of the child that could potentially be the doppelganger of her grandmother, or the mother of one," _

_Doran looked confused and it seemed what he had said have disturbed him, for the young human momentarily stared at his own feet before he shook his head and looked up again, "I thought you were supposed to protect them from him, not lead him here?" Doran may have wanted to sound assertive but fear was the most prominent expression on his dark brown eyes as they went back and forth between the two vampires standing in front of him. _

"_Well you see Doran, you really cannot blame Caroline, for she is no match for me…" He looked at Caroline who was watching him lividly, her other hand trying to untangle the fingers that he callously had wrapped around her dainty wrist. "But you need to applaud her struggles though… I mean she did try," He snickered at his captive's struggles._

_Caroline grunted loudly as she kept on trying to free herself, her tries getting more and more desperate whenever she heard Thea moan in pain._

"_Caroline," Thea called out warily, sweat running down from her pale face as she turned to glance at Caroline._

"_I'm here Thea," Caroline took a step forward towards the young girl lying on the floor, only to be hauled back by her hand. _

_Doran hastily ran to Thea's aid, yet he held his head panicking at the sight of Thea in such agony, "Caroline, I do not know what to do!"_

"_Let me help her!" Caroline demanded as she manically tried to free herself to get to Thea, trying to throw punches, and kicks, which he dodged smiling exultantly. _

"_If you want to see the Petrova blood line continue I suggest you let my hand go!" She said, her voice completely worn out by her foregoing attempts to free herself._

"_And let you help her escape again?" His scowl went from Doran, who was wiping the sweat off of Thea's forehead to Caroline, who stared at him as if she wanted to pull out his soul._

"_Did you not say it your self Niklaus, I am no match for you, so why should you worry so much about little ole me?" Caroline narrowed her eyes at him, her face burning red with fury, her eyes filled with rage._

"_Niklaus please… let her help," Doran stood up, his desperation bringing tears into his eyes._

"_Nik, I will not do anything but help that poor girl give birth, believe me," Caroline pleaded, her sincere tone could not be ignored, it woken something deep within him that he wanted so badly to go away. _

_Though he knew he could feed Thea his blood and ensure that she lived, he was afraid he would taint the Petrova blood line with his vampire blood and turn either Thea or her child or both into vampires, which in affect would make either the mother or the daughter or both of them useless to him. Thus he decided to let Caroline's hand loose and let her help the Petrova girl. Then he sat himself up on a sturdy rock from where he could watch over whatever that was happening._

_Caroline looked back at him surprised, at his decision to let her help Thea, and for a moment she waited studying his face, as though she was trying to learn what his reasons were, as though trying to see whether it was a bit of humanity that was still left in him that made him release her._

_Thea's yells bounced off the cave walls, and Caroline seemed to have put all other thoughts aside when she ran off to her aid, throwing her cloak to the floor next to her, "Thea, I am here you need not worry," She knelt beside the girl._

"_Caroline, am I going to die?" Thea rambled, her shaky hands grabbing onto Caroline's._

"_No, do not speak of such things, you are going to give birth to your beautiful child and live a happy life… trust me," Caroline stroked the young girl's forehead, forcing a smile out of her own worried face._

"_But why do I feel like this… like I am dying," Thea seemed to have seen through Caroline's forged smile, she seemed to have read the worried lines that was quite reluctant to disappear out of Caroline's face._

"_Nothing is going to change my love, listen to Caroline… trust her," Doran had placed himself on the opposite side of Caroline. He took Thea's right hand into his and placed a light kiss on it._

_A weak yet a warm smile adorned Thea's lips as his lips made contact._

_Caroline made Thea spread her legs more, "Now push!" She commanded the girl, who truly looked older than Caroline, even though when in reality Caroline may have been about twice Thea's age._

"_I can't… It hurts… There is something wrong… I know it!" Thea screamed out as she tried to push the little one out._

_Caroline bit into her wrist, "I will feed you my blood, and you will not have to fear anything,"_

"_I do not think that is wise Caroline," He got up from the spot he was sitting instantaneously, selfishness taking over, as his concern over the Petrova blood line resurfaced, he glowered at Caroline, and Doran who held on to Thea's hand possessively. _

"_No I do not want to... I am sorry Caroline I do not want to…" Thea protested to Caroline's attempt to save her, her head waving side to side, rejecting Caroline's bleeding wrist._

"_But…" Caroline's eyes filled up with tears, looking at her hand that healed itself._

"_Please…" Thea was determined either not to be a vampire or die, more so the latter than the first for there was something in her tone that said she was more than a little depressed of her life._

"_Listen to her, Thea," Doran begged._

_Thea avoided Doran's eyes and turned to Caroline, "I am sorry, Caroline, I do not want to die a human and possibly wake up a vampire… and I certainly do not have anything to live for," She screamed out again, finally pushing out a little head that Caroline managed to help come out._

_Caroline wrapped up the blood dripping torso of the crying little one, with the white fur robe she had thrown to the ground earlier. _

_He watched from afar, watched Doran panic stricken eyes glaring at Thea, watched Caroline coo something into the baby's ear that made the child stop crying, he watched mesmerized by Caroline's abilities, and the way she held the baby in her arms; it looked very natural, and it scared him, the fact he found the scenery of the child in her arms unexplainably appealing bothered him utterly._

"_Here is your beautiful daughter, Thea," Caroline held the child closer to Thea, but the young mother just looked away. It seemed she feared that meeting her own daughter's eyes would break her resolute. _

"_Nothing is going to happen to you… And you have me, Doran, and now you have a beautiful baby that is going to need her mother," Caroline held the baby closely against her chest._

"_Doran has been a great friend to me, but…" The brunette stuttered and she fought hard to bring her words out, "I cannot…cannot live without Henry… and… and I want to meet Henry... I want to meet him… up in the heavens… he is waiting for me, I can see him,"_

_It is then he realized why Doran looked so dejected when he called Doran, 'Thea's husband' earlier, for then only he realized that all Doran had been to Thea was her friend, while Henry probably may have been Thea's husband, and the father of Thea's baby, and by the looks of it, Doran probably was a friend who had wanted to be more than just that to her._

"_What about your child? Look at her Thea!" Caroline commanded, wiping her tears, "You cannot abandon her… You are being selfish!"_

_He had no reason to want Thea to live, he had no reason to want to force Thea to drink vampire blood, for he had already gotten what he had wanted, another heir to the Petrova blood line, so whether Thea lived or not was trivial to him now, whether she turned to a vampire or not was dismal of importance to him now, but he did care, and he couldn't help but feel that Caroline's worried state had something to do with it, he couldn't help but feel that the woman that had betrayed him some time ago, the woman he was supposed to hate had some indescribable power over him._

"_You have been a mother… a friend… a sister to me…" Thea's hand sought out for Caroline's hand, "And I know you would be all of those things to my daughter…" Thea wept as Caroline held the newborn child in one hand and reached out and caught Thea's trembling hand by the other, "She would be very lucky to have someone like you, someone who always puts the ones they love before themself" The brunette smiled looking at the roof of the cave; she stared as if she heard some kind of a calling from above._

"_Thea," Caroline shook the dying young mother by her shoulders trying to get her out of the strange daze she looked to have been caught in._

"_No! Do not leave me," Doran ran his hand on Thea's cheek. _

_Caroline placed the child carefully on the spot next to her, and took Thea's blue, blood drained face into her lap, "Thea do not do this!"_

"_It is… my wish Caroline…" Thea mumbled, almost coldheartedly, looking straight above and at nothing else, "I am sorry Caroline," _

"_Thea," Caroline called her softly, running the back of her hand on Thea's face._

"_Tell my daughter," Thea mumbled, her words barely comprehensible, "Her …selfish mother …did love her enough… to leave her…" She gasped heavily as tears rolled down her damped cheeks, "In the hands of someone like you," Thea managed to put on a brave smile, despite of the immense pain she looked to be in. _

"_I will not let you die!" Caroline bit her wrist again._

"_Caroline…" Her name simply came out of his lips in a whisper. He was certain he hadn't called her to stop her from tainting the blood line, he was certain he wasn't worried about his 'sun and moon curse' that moment. Still he didn't know why he had such an uncontrollable urge to call out the name of his enemy as gently as so either. All he knew was he simply couldn't stop her name from rolling out again, "Caroline," He had repeated looking at her from afar and thankfully Caroline hadn't turned to his voice, but if she had turned at that moment he thought, nay he was sure, that somehow things would have gotten rather complicated._

"_Take care of her," Thea smiled again turning to look at Caroline, just to weakly push her bleeding hand away._

"_No!" Doran pleaded grabbing the young girl's hand._

"_Good bye Doran," Thea closed her eyes, a content smile running across her pale lips as she exhaled her very last breath._

"_Thea!" Caroline shook the cold body in her hand, trying to shake her eyes open, trying to jolt her heart back to life._

_He didn't know whether his words could be heard over Doran's wails, but he spoke softly "Caroline, she's gone…" his hand reached her shoulder, choosing to turn a deaf ear to his brain that kept telling him, he should be hating her._

_Caroline placed Thea's head gently upon the cave floor before she bitterly shoved his hand off her shoulder and turned around to look at him, "This is all your fault!" _

"_My fault? The woman died giving birth Caroline, and she did not even wish to live!" He defended himself, and took a step back as if scared of Caroline's finger that was pointed at him._

"_She was tired… we had to run all this way out here to get away from you… she was tired," Tears fell from her eyes, "It is your fault… she… she was like a daughter to me!" She pushed him back._

"_Caroline…" He stood his ground and held her hand that came towards him to drive him back again._

_She pulled her hand back from him, and glared, "Do not even say my name Niklaus…" She slowly broke into a cry._

_He refused to oblige, "Caroline…" He called her, and he didn't know what came over him suddenly but he simply pulled her closer to him, held her tightly against his chest._

_He could feel her struggle, fight to get away, but in a second she gave up the fight and laid her head against his chest. He could feel her tears soaking his shirt, "It's all your fault," She murmured softly, her hands dropping to the either side of her, as he enveloped her completely and closed his eyes._

When Klaus' eyes opened the next moment, he learnt that he was not in any icy cave, nor was he holding Caroline in his arms, but in a hotel room, lying on a stiff wooden table, half naked, with strange symbols drawn across his chest, "What happened? Where's the rest of it?" He sat up.

"So the spell finally worked this time?" Martin walked towards him, clasping a large spell book by both his hands.

"Hmm, but I didn't remember all of it," Klaus stood up and walked passed Martin, disappointed as he didn't get to see what happened right after the embrace, to see where that hug led to, or whether it led anywhere at all, moreover he had wanted to know how he had come to forget, presumably three hundred and sixty five days of his life out of the thousand years he had lived.

"You were only asleep for few minutes," Martin threw the spell book on to a chair, "I guess… it could be because you're an Original. The spell I found was written for your everyday vampire, I just tweaked it a little bit for you… I guess I might have to think of another way… because we cannot keep trying all these spells again and again because if something goes wrong… I'm not sure what might happen… "

Klaus found his shirt and put it on, his eyes trying to read the symbols on his chest off a nearby mirror while he let the fabric of his shirt cover them, "So make sure you do your homework before next time you have a big Eureka moment and calling me and saying that you've found a way to get my memory back…" Klaus grumbled, his eyes narrowing at the warlock who took a step back.

The warlock had been attempting very unsuccessfully to help him regain his forgotten memories for the past few days, ever since the day Klaus had realized that what Caroline had said about them being together for a year may be true. However, tonight was the first time the warlock had been able to help him see even a glimpse of the year that he had forgotten.

"I apologize… I will keep trying… I hope you will keep your end of the bargain and give my family back once I give your memories…" the warlock added tentatively.

"I will... It was your own fault that you couldn't see your family sooner, if you had helped me get the doppelganger as I wanted I would've let your family members free… Now your family… your son, your daughter, and your wife will have to wait until you find a way to bring my memories back…" Klaus studied the face of the warlock, it was apparent that he had been spot on about Martin's weakness being his family when he captured them and locked them all away as leverage, "Anyway, I will come back tomorrow morning to see the progress you've made… Now I've got to go to some stupid dinner my sister is throwing to win the heart of a certain ripper," Klaus left Martin's hotel room grabbing his coat on his way out.

He could see that it was raining lightly when he got to the foyer of the hotel.

For the past few days the heavens have not been kind on the little town of Mystic Falls, for every sunset it would start to rain and would only stop at sunrise the next day.

As feeble humans ran for shelter, as umbrellas flew off and flipped in the hands of some while they tried to scurry out of the rain, Klaus stepped out without a care, and walked calmly down the road that led to his mansion.

The rain was not as severe as the wind, in fact the rain he could hardly feel soaking him. Yet, thunder he could hear crumble the peace, and when he looked up he was greeted by a long thread of lighting that spanned across the evening sky, which was followed by another loud growl.

He may have been walking on a different path, standing on a different place and time, but the sky he thought looked as ill-omened as the night Elijah came to him with a very painful truth.

He tried to get his mind off of the memory of his brother's words, not to let the anger he felt that night resurface, but he couldn't. The comparable rhythm of the thunder that bounced upon the clouds just wouldn't let him. It helped awaken every sore detail of what had happened that stormy night up on the roof top of his mansion.

_He remembered the way the dark clouds bundled closer together as lightning shot up in the sky, roaring as if something evil had taken over the heavens. _

_Elijah was standing still for a moment, pretending as though he was waiting for the roaring to stop, as if he was waiting for the right time, "It was me who compelled Caroline to forget about that night in India," Another surge of lightning took over the darkness above. He saw Elijah look up at him, a bolt of lightning flashing in the sky changing his elder brother's face into a cold blue, and the grumble that followed the light aiding him to believe he had misheard the words his brother had muttered._

"_I compelled her," Elijah's voice dubbed over the sound of thunder, and he could no longer fool himself into thinking he hadn't heard Elijah properly. Then it was his time to be still. _

_He closed his eyes._

_His mind raced in high a pace trying to comprehend what he had heard come out of his honorable brother Elijah's mouth. He kept his eyes shut trying to think what action he should take next upon hearing the cruel truth that his elder brother had revealed. _

_His body was motionless, but his eyes opened again simply to stare at Elijah._

"_Niklaus, please forgive me…" Elijah came couple of steps forward, his eyes irresolute as to whether he should look up._

"_Elijah Stop!" He moved away, he wanted Elijah to stay back, stay away from him, he wanted him to stop talking, stop reminding him that he wasn't the brother he thought he was. _

_Elijah froze, "Niklaus, I…"_

_His jaws gritted, he could feel the dark veins beneath his eyes soar, "Why?" He barked, moving towards the perpetrator that had cast his eyes to the floor._

"_Few hours after you took her with you …. That night…in India… I saw her standing outside your room… I should've just ignored her, I should've acted like I didn't care…. But I couldn't not care…. I tried to but I couldn't," Elijah sighed taking a long stride forward, yet deciding against taking another he closed his eyes instead, drowning in regret and in memories. "She looked beautiful that night," _

_Each syllable Elijah voiced sounded a curse that was created just to make his head explode. He tried to hold the anger in, but as always he was defeated, for unable to withstand the pain, he ran at Elijah, held him by his throat, "Why? Why did you do it Elijah?" _

"_I went to her… I didn't ask her what happened between the two of you… I didn't have to… I knew what may have occurred …. But…she looked… sad… in my eyes she looked sad…. And at that moment all I wanted to do was to take that sadness away from her," Elijah explained, trying not to look at him straight in the eyes as if he feared they could burn him, turn him to ashes._

"_Get to the damn point Elijah!" He shouted louder than the thunder that blighted the air as he held onto Elijah's neck tightly. His fingers almost grappled his brother's jugular veins as if to pull them out. "You've been holding the truth from me long enough," He yelled, for he wanted a simpler answer out of the older vampire; he didn't want the details, for the details he feared may help his elder brother escape without penance for what he had done to Caroline._

_Elijah answered, with a hint of pain, and a hint of anger, "I asked her what was wrong… she said she wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing… because she didn't want to go through it again and get hurt again … she said she wished she could forget everything and start all over again…"_

_For a moment he wasn't willing to believe his brother, for would Caroline have actually wanted to forget everything that happened between them, or was she implying something else, he contemplated for a moment but then decided that either way Elijah had no right to erase her memory in the first place, "So you just compelled her? Just because she said that?" Klaus dragged his brother over to the little barrier at the edge of the roof, and shoved his head over it as if threatening to push him over._

_With some effort Elijah managed to get his neck released, "I don't know what came over me that night… She didn't ask me directly to compel her but… I compelled her to forget that we ever met her in India, made her forget what ever that happened between the two of you," _

"_How could you?" His hand speedily caught onto Elijah's collar. _

"_What is going on in here? I was on my way to my room… after a very heated meeting with a lovely red head I met at this place called 'The Grill'… and I heard the two of you fighting… " Kol was standing with a very expensive bottle of wine in his right hand, leaning to one of the smaller walls at the entrance to the roof top. _

"_My apologies for my behavior at dinner Kol… I was too quick to judge you… because Elijah here has just confessed to what he had done to Caroline," He grinded his teeth, glaring at his elder brother, who Caroline herself had stated once as someone that would never compel her._

_Kol gulped some wine straight off the bottle "Elijah… I'm so disappointed in you, brother… I guess this would mean Finn may be the only righteous one left in our family…" Kol approached his two older brothers, with a smirk across his face, brushing his hair back with his free hand to wipe away the evidence of the little drizzle that poured down on them. "But... you compelling Caroline to forget whatever the hell happened between her and Nik doesn't really surprise me one bit …" Kol sneered, his eyes scanning the awkward posture Elijah was currently was in, "So what are you planning to do Nik? Are you going to dagger him as well?" He seemed entertained by the brawl, or it was his way of making sure that things didn't go out of hand, though it may be a near impossible feat to achieve, for Mikaelsons were famed for going overboard in everything that they do._

"_Well Kol my brother, I haven't really decided yet. I'm giving Elijah a chance to explain himself. He is my brother so that's the least I can do," He pushed Elijah's head over the railing even more, angling his head in away, so that the only thing Elijah could see was the ground beneath, see only the grass that seemed like a sheet of black velvet spread across the ground for the shadow of the mansion itself and the night itself had hidden its true green, though the bolts of lightning that flew through the sky seemed to give it a more lilac sheen._

"_Nice view isn't it?" Kol asked mockingly as he came up and stood next to Elijah looking over the edge himself, as if he hadn't noticed anything much wrong with the current situation his brothers were in, one trying to kill the other the other desperately trying to justify his wrongs, Kol seemed to have taken it as the norm. _

"_Why did you do it Elijah?" The morbid clouds couldn't contest the gloom and despair he felt embellish his eyes as he stared at his brother whose head he kept on thrusting against the railing._

"_May be it was Jealousy, May be it was the fact that in spite of you doing million things wrong, Me trying to do the right thing every damn time… She would never even look at me the same way as she looks at you..." Elijah's face was shadowed with shame and envy while he spoke of his reasons, "May be it was my way of avenging you… for trying to kill the only woman I thought I could even try to fall in love… I wanted to fall in love with her so that I could forget about Caroline, forget about the love I felt for the woman that I knew would never love me back… I just wanted to move on, I just wanted to be in love with someone who was completely different from Caroline… so that I could move on… but you wanted to kill her, use her to break your stupid curse,"_

"_Are you being serious Elijah? You can't be talking about Katherina? You did this because of her?" He huffed out a laugh as he pulled Elijah up to face him. "And from what I'm hearing from you now it seems you too were only trying to use her, may be not to break a curse but to fall out of love…"_

"_Katherina? Isn't she the Doppelganger that got away?" Kol sat up on the railing, his back turned to the dark backdrop of the mansion grounds. Though no one bothered to answer Kol's nagging questions, he didn't even seem to have minded the lack of response either._

"_I may have done it for million reasons Niklaus… or I may have done it purely because of jealousy… but either way you have no right to reprimand me, because you've committed the same crime, guilty of the same offense… Didn't you compel Stefan and make him forget about Rebekah? And then what did you do? You daggered your own sister? And in the name of what did you do all that? Jealousy? Brotherly love?"_

"_I had my reasons, Elijah," He answered, but he wasn't clear of how his reasons for what he did to Rebekah and Stefan could be justified._

"_And I've had mine…" Elijah countered, his face consumed with anger and emotions that neither Kol or he had seen on his brother in a very long while._

_He truly couldn't fathom this actually had happened, that this was reality, he wished that it would have been easier if it was Kol, it would've been much more easier to take, if it wasn't Elijah who had compelled Caroline, but anyone else, "But It's not the same… It's Caroline we're talking about… you compelled Caroline! This is you we are talking about Elijah…." _

"_The 'oh so noble' Elijah, that never does the wrong thing… the ideal brother, the ideal man, the selfless vampire," Kol added._

_Elijah somehow pushed himself out of the deadly clasp he was caught in, sending his captor flying off to the other end, so that his hands were free to grapple Kol's throat, so that he could threaten to push their youngest brother off the railing._

"_I was just stating facts…" Kol grinned, his eyes glancing at the ground below, "I really don't want to know how lush the grass down there is, and anyway this isn't your style Elijah,"_

_Elijah scoffed letting Kol off, "My style? All of you can do whatever you want… but I always have to do what everyone expects from me… " Elijah turned to his other brother, "Niklaus, I stood by you even when I thought what you were doing was wrong. It's not easy to always live in your shadow. I've always done everything for family… It certainly isn't easy to always be the better person when you see the woman you love wanting to be with your brother," Elijah's voice got softer, more heartfelt, "So am I not allowed to make even one mistake? Be irrational for once?"_

_He looked at the heavens, the downpour that crashed down at the roof and then looked again at his brother, "That May be... but forgiveness, pity… that's not my thing Elijah… It's just not something that I do... you should know that by now… I'm Niklaus, I'm not you, I'm not Finn!" He slammed Elijah back towards the cement railing and his left hand caught Elijah by his neck as his right hand loomed over Elijah's heart, his nails threatening to pull the dead heart out of his brother who truly for many years had stood by him despite of all their differences. _

"_Nik…" Kol got off the railing, concerned for once._

_Elijah could have easily thrown him off, he was as strong and fast as him and he could have fought him, make a run for it, but he simply let his younger brother do whatever he wanted, "May be it is better this way Niklaus… I've been keeping this secret with me for long enough… So do as you may Niklaus, hate me as you may, so that I wouldn't have to feel as guilty… but I ask one thing from you Niklaus…" Elijah paused, his eyes cast to the left, "Don't tell Caroline it was me… She may not love me… but I don't want her to hate me,"_

"_For all I know Caroline may have heard this little chat already," He answered Elijah with a growl, sending Kol a cold look for Kol seemed as if he was about to help Elijah free himself._

_Elijah shook his head, "No… I checked on her before I came here… she was asleep and dreaming, So promise me you won't tell her," _

_Something about Elijah in Caroline's room watching her sleep made him even more outraged, Something flickered in his eyes that made him look at Elijah in a very narrow scope, "I can't promise you no such thing Elijah," He simply pushed Elijah over the ledge, and watched his deceitful brother drop to the ground as rumbles in the sky muffled the sound of his bones cracking as he hit the floor._

"_Ooh… His neck is going to be soar when he wakes up," Kol looked down below at the motionless body of Elijah lying on the wet grassy ground. "I hope you do know that you just proved yourself to be the biggest hypocrite alive?" _

"_I hope you know that if you don't stop talking I will dagger you again!" he wasn't mocking around for his hand reached to grab Kol's collar._

"_Elijah, compels possibly the love of your life," Kol skillfully stepped away, and grinned, "I mean your childhood friend and he only gets pushed off the roof and I call you a hypocrite and I get daggered… that doesn't sound fair,"_

"_Then maybe I should make it fair and throw you off as well," He raised an eye brow, gazing down towards where Elijah met his fate, implying that Kol's fate could be the same any moment._

"_I've never been that fond of fairness and justice anyway brother may be some other time," Kol passing a smug smile backed away._

_He after casting an angry glare at Kol walked off the roof top, soaked head to toe by the rain that had slowly turned into a storm._

"Why the hell do you look like a wet cat?... I've put your tuxedo in your closet…So quickly go and get ready for the ball!" Rebekah's nagging, and tug on his shoulder snapped him into the present day.

"Caroline is still not back with her little shopping venture... and then here you are looking like you had a swim with your clothes on!" Rebekah badgered in a very fast pace, "And before you bite my head off about Caroline, you should know she went out with Finn and two of your slaves,"

Klaus looked around as if he had just caught himself sleepwalking, for while delving on the past he had managed to unconsciously walk back to his mansion, "Ball? I thought it was just a dinner?" he noticed that his minions were running around making arrangements, rushing about arranging flowers and candles and other decorations that for the most part he thought looked quite tacky, and that they didn't go all that well with the elegance of the mansion.

"Well one thing led to another and it turned into a ball…" Rebekah sighed, acting as if she had no hand whatsoever in the small dinner party, turning into, by the looks of it into the ball of the century.

"Are you out of your mind? Having a small dinner is one thing. Although we all know how that turned out the last time around…" Klaus grunted taking off his wet coat which soon disappeared with a faithful minion that went by him. "So what made you think I would agree to any of this?

"Because, it's going to be your way of saying you're sorry for what you did to Stefan's memory and it's my way of trying to make Stefan mine again," Rebekah stood sternly, with her hands on her hips.

"Didn't I say sorry already by agreeing to stay in this god forsaken house in the middle of nowhere? And after what happened that night would the ripper be still interested in coming back here again?" Klaus walked in towards the living room through the foyer, only to see how it had been completely transformed into a ballroom he had seen back in the eighteen hundreds.

Rebekah scoffed as she followed him, "I'd been trapped in a box for more than nine decades because of you, so I don't think it's wrong of me to ask for more… and as for Stefan... thanks to your little compulsion trick, I'm sure he wouldn't want to miss a chance to make sure that our lovable Caroline is safe," She passed a knowing smile, and directed her eyes towards the staircase that led to Caroline's room…"And you and I both know the reason you stayed here was not for me, So I guess you still owe me,"

Klaus followed Rebekah's eyes towards the staircase, his thoughts at once going towards Caroline who slept in the second room to the right.

Even if his room was dead in front of Caroline's, he had barely seen the shadow of Caroline for the past few days, after the very dramatic dinner they had last time and the very few times he did see her, she did not even look at him let alone say any spite filled words like she normally did. The more Caroline ignored him more intent he became on finding the truth behind his lost memories.

"This… this ball would defeat the point of keeping… Caroline safe," He rolled his eyes at his sister who didn't seem to have given any forethought to what she had done.

"Haven't you heard the saying, keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Anyway it's too late to back out from this now… In a few more hours our guests would be at the door… And I hope you won't do anything stupid like decapitating them…" With a disapproving look Rebekah scanned a young vampire that walked by.

"So who did you invite? I hope you didn't invite the whole town?" He truly suspected she may have indeed invited the whole of the town, for it was Rebekah, who wanted to do everything as grandly as she possibly can.

"That goes in the other table not there!" She instructed the servant she had been scrutinizing the whole while, but it seemed it was also to serve the purpose of post ponding answering his question.

"Rebekah?" Klaus frowned at his younger sister.

Then approaching him with very gentle steps, she talked softly, "Not everyone… some people I met at the bar… May be the town council… and also may be the Salvatore brothers and the Bennet witch? Who knows may be even the Doppelganger might even decide to drop by, she could've grown tired of hiding from you,"

Klaus balled up his hands, "What? Why in the world would you do that? Don't tell me that… one thing led to another and you had invited the whole town! Don't you know they all are trying to kill Caroline… kill me… kill us all!"

"With what dear brother?" Kol was looking at them, slanting casually against the large door frame of the living room entrance, "From what I know the last remaining white oak stake was destroyed… yes there's a bit of a risk… a risk that they may try to do something to Caroline… and we all know if something happens to her it would affect you very deeply…" He put his hands in his pockets and smiled craftily, "I mean she is your weakness…" he paused only to wink, "But do you really think they would dare come to our house and try to kill her…. They would dare fight us in our own home?"

"Kol, I thought you were wiser than our dear little sister here," Klaus complained, shaking his head disappointedly.

"Hey!" Rebekah protested loudly for being called dumber than Kol.

"Nik… I'm sure they would be as confused as you, as to why we invited them here… I'm sure they'd be too busy trying to guess what we've planned and how to counter attack, to come up with some way to corner Caroline," Kol explained and walked into the living room and stood beside Rebekah.

"But… what is the point of this? Having all of them in our home?" Klaus could not fathom a good enough reason to have his home filled with people who wanted him dead, thus he studied his younger brother and sister as if he wanted to know what had possessed them to act so irresponsibly. Then again, he thought, the two in front of him had always been the least responsible and sensible of the lot, at least according to him.

"Let Bekah have her fun Nik, she deserves it… we all deserve it!" Kol came closer to Klaus as though he had been standing too far away earlier to get his point across amply, "We've been here about a month now… and what've we done but for the most part hide in here like a bunch scary cats? And for how long are you going to keep her trapped in here? We are Originals brother… we don't need to hide," There was a sense of bravado in Kol's tone, "Tonight we'll help them see just that… we'll let them know that we do not care about their plans and schemes to be rid of us… we'll show them they are nothing but a bunch of peasants to us!"

"I don't fear them… I don't fear anyone..." Klaus paced about, his wet shoes making squeaking sound against the newly waxed floor, "I've never had and never will! It's just that…" His mind went to Caroline, how they may exploit her to get to him.

"Oh stop worrying so much… with all these vampires standing guard they won't have a chance… anyway Caroline is more than capable of taking care of herself, and if it makes you feel any better I vow to keep my eye on her," Rebekah put her right hand above her dead heart.

"I too promise to keep an eye on Caroline… or better yet I'll keep an eye on the Bennet witch for you… to make sure she doesn't do any kind of voodoo that could harm our little Caroline…" Kol winked again, his hand too landing on the left side of his chest.

"Well that would certainly put me at ease…" Klaus remarked flippantly, and he turned to leave thinking that there was nothing he could do about it now, whether he liked it or not, whether it was wise or not, the Mikaelsons were having a ball.

Then, just as he was about to exit the living room Rebekah called him somewhat apprehensively, "And Nik.." She paused.  
Klaus stopped to hear why.

"I hope you won't mind, I... I invited Elijah too…" Rebekah added her tone purposefully altered to sound naive.

"What?" He asked turning to his sister. The name 'Elijah' he felt had become poisonous to his ears.

Elijah had left the mansion that night, right after he plummeted from the rooftop, and Klaus had not seen the sight of him since that day and he was extremely glad he hadn't, glad his brother had taken the initiative to leave, for there was no telling what his anger may have pushed him to do, "I thought this ball was just an excuse for you to get Stefan back? How does Elijah fit into the equation?"

"I don't know what happened between the two of you that night… but all I know is that Elijah and you had some kind of a fall out… and I want to fix it…" Rebekah's eyes gleamed with very sincere tears.

"You can't fix everything by simply throwing ball Bekah!" Klaus was outright annoyed at Rebekah for being so naïve, she was a thousand years old, but she still time to time acted like the teenage girl she was before she became a vampire.

"You may be right…" She stared at him, her eyes pleading him to understand, "But, now that our father is finally out of our hair… I just want our family to be reunited, even if it is for a little while… and isn't that what you want too Nik?" She questioned, her voice conveying a sorrow that struck Klaus profoundly.

"Isn't that what we all ever wanted?" Kol matched his sister's tone and put his hand on Klaus' shoulder.

Klaus sighed heavily, he didn't know how to answer them, but he understood them, thus he simply turned to go; It was his way of saying he is on board with the whole ball idea, not happily, but on board nevertheless.

"Promise me you wouldn't do anything reckless," Rebekah shouted from behind.

"I promise to dagger both of you if anything goes even slightly wrong…" Klaus threatened without spinning around to look at his siblings, but he could hear Kol's laughter behind him, calling his bluff, calling out his empty threat.

"It's going to be a magical evening Nik, I promise!" Rebekah shrilled, and he could hear the excitement echo along with her words, "So go get ready! Everyone will be here in an hour or so,"

He simply went up the stairs without turning to respond and he sighed again for apparently he had very little time to get ready for a ball.

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**A/N:** I hope it wasn't boring, I was supposed to add the part about the ball but thought I would add that in the next chapter. I think the ball might be a bit fun more than this. I have two days off from work so I might be able to update the next chapter little bit earlier.


	14. The Game

**A/N: **It's again a bit of a long chapter... Thanks again for all the favourites and alerts and reviews. **Sissi Martin** and **Justine** thanks for the very encouraging reviews, Sometimes when I feel like not writing at all these reviews always help me. (Especially because of what's happening on TVD these days) And **clashcityrocker083** thanks for the wonderful review I'm really glad you are enjoying this story.

I hope you all like this chapter... I really loved writing the dialogues in this chapter, I hope you all like it to

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**The Game**

As Klaus walked down the stairs he could see the well festooned living room filled with human heads. Rebekah he thought at the end of the day, regardless of what he had thought of her choice of decorations, garlands and what not, had managed to create a wonderful atmosphere.

The string quartet playing in the background made him feel rather nostalgic, for it took him back to a time when music of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart was considered contemporary.

Just as he landed on the ballroom floor, someone turned him around by his shoulder, "Well, Don't you look dashing?" It was Kol, dressed up in a tuxedo quite similar to his and he was sipping on his champagne, with his smirk ruling his face.

Klaus snubbing off Kol's remark looked over his shoulder, his eyes carefully analyzing all the guests, "Where's Rebekah? Has she already won the heart of the younger Salvatore and decided to abandon us among these distasteful humans, who think Beethoven is a St. Bernard?"

"You liar! You and I both know you're in the lookout for a quite a different blonde, who definitely is not your sister," Kol pointed to somewhere to the middle of the dance floor, where very less dance and too much of talk was happening, "I saw Caroline somewhere around there, talking with Finn and a strapping young lad, who was quite interested in everything our blonde friend had to say," He drank his champagne glass dry and checked Klaus' expression.

Klaus was naturally curious about the 'strapping young lad' that Kol talked of, but knowing Kol's gaze that waited him to ask after the mystery man, knowing that Kol may be planning to mock him further about his interest in some man Caroline was seen talking with, Klaus opted to stay quiet regarding the subject all together. He then let his stare fall to the direction where Kol had pointed, but he failed to find the blonde in question, "I thought you were supposed to keep an eye on her? Where is she?" Klaus had stupidly asked, even after the resolute to not to mention her, the words had just slipped. He flinched as he realized he had given Kol the opening he had been looking for to start teasing him.

"So you really weren't looking for Rebekah after all? Are you sure there's nothing going on between you and Caroline Archer, I mean other than the 'If you die I die' dilemma," Kol chuckled shaking his head, already anticipating to get a good laugh at the dire excuse Klaus may say in his defense.

"Who I was looking for, or not looking for, and for what, is not of your concern, just be concerned that you keep an eye on Caroline like you promised…" Klaus passed a devil like smirk.

"Au contraire, it was Bekah who promised to take care of Caroline… I for one promised to keep an eye on the Bennet witch, not your favorite blonde…" Kol placed his empty glass on a tray which one of the waiters were going around with, and his eyes suddenly went to the living room entrance, "And looking at the beautiful creature who just entered our humble aboard, I think I'm just about to fulfill my promise to you brother,"

Klaus found the girl that had caught Kol's eye. It was the Bennet witch, standing in the doorway, easing out of her coat with the help of her young date. "I'm just curious as to how you guessed her to be the Bennet witch?"

"Let's just say I have this rare talent, where I can sniff them out," Kol smiled, his eyes not leaving the young witch.

"And here I thought I was the only one in the family with a bit of canine blood," Klaus joked, looking at his younger brother who was definitely looking like a drooling wolf with perked up ears.

Witches no doubt were Kol's type, or rather his weakness, and he pursued them even if he very well knew none of his past encounters with the kind had ever ended in a happy note. May be that was the reason, Klaus thought, Kol just may love a good old challenge and witches were nothing but, especially the Bennets.

Kol took a step forward and stopped as if to take courage before he went into battle, "Wish me luck brother, because I'm going to try and seduce all the secrets out of that young witch… to fulfill my promise to you of course,"

"Of course," Klaus rolled his eyes and watched his brother slowly slither forward towards the witch and her date.

Kol still on his way to the witch turned his head around a bit to look at Klaus, "Oh and Nik! May be sometime you could explain to me why people think Beethoven is a St. Bernard!" Then he turned to the direction of the lovely dark haired girl again.

"Better yet I'll help you get acquainted with Google!" Klaus answered with a smile.

Kol didn't turn around to respond, but Klaus could imagine the confused face Kol may be sporting as he swaggered his way towards his object of attraction.

Klaus listened in on what his younger brother was uttering just after placing a kiss on the hand of the very bemused witch, "Miss Bennet, how lovely it is to finally meet you,"

While her date looked upon Kol as if he was about to stake the Original, the Bennet girl took her hand out of Kol's quickly, and gave a stare that said, "_Who the hell are you?_"

"Let me introduce myself, I'm Kol, Kol Mikaelson," Kol answered her stare, and Klaus could see the witch's face turning red even from the spot where he was standing.

"We've heard a lot about you, and that's exactly why my date and I, don't want anything to do with you!" The girl rolled her big brown eyes at Kol.

Before the date that the young Miss Bennet's hand had clutched on to could even open his mouth, ever try to do something, mark his territory of sorts, Kol started to speak, "I see that my reputation precedes me, or rather my family's… but you shouldn't believe everything that you hear my dear,"

"When it comes to your family, we have no choice but to believe every disgusting ounce of it," Her date muttered in a very low tone, almost like a low growl of an angry mutt.

"Jeremy!" The witch was heard pleading her date, probably since she was more aware of where she was, and of the real power of the Original vampires.

"Ah such gumption for a little boy," Kol mocked the young man, but his eyes were fixed on the girl in front of him, "I can see what you may see in him, but I'm afraid it's not what you need,"

"Let me guess, you're supposed to be what I need?" The witch scoffed.

"You said it Miss Bennet, not me!" Kol grinned slyly.

Jeremy seemed to be itching to get a hold of the Original's neck, but thanks to the witch's imploding her date it seemed would seize to live another day, "Let's go Jeremy!" She grabbed Jeremy's hand and started to walk off to the middle of the crowd.

"May be I could share a dance with you later?" Kol shouted after her, with so much of anticipation filled in his words.

"I have a date!" Bonnie shouted back as she walked further into the room.

"Not for long Miss Bennet, not for long," Klaus could hear his very conceited brother mumble to himself looking at Bonnie Bennet who vanished into the party.

"Finding amusement in Kol's misadventures?" It was him, Klaus' scoundrel of a brother, the one who betrayed him. Klaus wanted to punch him, pull his guts out just for showing up and daring to talk to him as if nothing had happened, daring to talk as if the little time he had been gone had been enough to heal his wounds; for the lesions ran deeper than his brother may have thought.

"Elijah, I didn't think you would have the nerve to show up tonight," Klaus robbed a glass of champagne from the hands of a guest, who only looked up at him surprised before he confusedly went on his way, for perhaps not only that human guest but anyone who had eyes may have seen the livid expression on Klaus' face which said, '_he was in no mood to be a gentlemen'_.

"Rebekah persisted that I come," Elijah uttered a weak excuse, "And…." There was a long pause.

"And?" Klaus read his brother's face tasting his drink, holding the flimsy crystal glass so tightly that it almost broke in his hand.

"And… I thought Rebekah was right… we have to mend things between us. Running away never solved anything, it only made matters worse. We've gone through things much worse than this, have we not Niklaus?" Elijah seemed nervous, hopeful that he would be able to convince Klaus to give another chance.

"No!" Klaus answered simply and firmly.

"May be not, but still you can't hold this against me for all eternity, I'm your brother and I made a foolish mistake. Have I not always forgiven you for yours?" Elijah, tried to reach for Klaus' shoulder but changed his mind, worried of Klaus' reaction.

And worried he should be Klaus thought, for if Elijah had kept even a finger on him he knew he would lose all control and the glass in his hand would be the first to feel his wrath.

Klaus just wished the string quartet, the loud laughter, the chit chat among the guests would simply stop, for he wanted to make sure Elijah could clearly hear what he had to say to him, "I've not forgiven you Elijah! I will not forgive you! I'm just trying to control my temper on behalf of my sister who asked me not to do anything reckless… and correct me if I'm wrong I've had never asked for your forgiveness, because to my knowledge I've done nothing wrong by you,"

"That may be… but… the fact that you didn't dagger me that night or you haven't thrown me across the room yet or the fact that 'She' has no idea about what happened, leads me to believe even though you may not have forgiven me, you've understood my reasons and that gives me hope," The word 'Hope' gave a bit of light to Elijah's dark brown eyes.

"You talked to her?" Klaus could feel a rush of heat burn his eyes as he glared at Elijah.

"Yes, very briefly," Elijah seemed to want to rectify any false notions that Klaus may have about the fleeting exchange he possibly have had with Caroline Archer, for the three words came out of him almost sounded as if he regretted ever mentioning the fact.

"But long enough to know that I haven't divulge your precious secret?" Klaus scorned, exhaling an angry puff of air.

"I simply gathered that by the fact that she wasn't shying away from me," Elijah stated, his eyes examining the ballroom, possibly for Caroline, fearing she may over hear the conversation.

"I may not have told her of it _yet_, I may not have thrown you across the room _yet_, but as you can see the key word here is, 'yet'…" Klaus snarled wickedly, "And don't for a second fool yourself to believe that I kept that bit of information from her, because you begged me to keep it a secret," He continued, watching Elijah's forehead get crowded with more than couple of worried lines.

"Even you're not that petty enough to use that against me, are you Niklaus? Tell me you're not keeping this as leverage, to black mail me?" Elijah seemed to have drawn a rather acute conclusion about Klaus' reasons for keeping the secret from Caroline.

Though in all honesty, Klaus himself hadn't really figured out why he hadn't revealed the truth to Caroline yet, Klaus wouldn't have expected for Elijah or for anyone else for that matter to have assumed he had done it with any other intentions but that, for he was 'Klaus' keeping information as leverage seemed the Klaus thing to do, "It is what I do best Elijah… lie, deceive, scheme," He rather look evil than clueless, Klaus thought.

"Ah… I see the two of you are talking to each other again," Finn appeared from the crowd, with a wide smile for he seemed to have thought that his younger brothers had begun to sort out their problems.

Klaus didn't want to even allow anyone to think that he had even tiniest inclination to forgive Elijah, "It's not like I can kill him with all these people around, not that I care but…"

"But a certain blonde might care and you care about that," Nonchalantly Finn completed Klaus' sentence as he hugged Elijah, "Good to see you again Elijah, hope you two could stop behaving like two little boys in first grade fighting for their turn at the swing,"

Elijah laughed; the awkwardness he held on his face earlier had virtually disappeared.

"How can you even compare thousand year old vampires such as us to couple of toddlers playing in the school yard? The problems we have are far more severe than two children crying for some plank of wood tied to a rope," Klaus grunted, for he would not be mocked by Finn, not for hating Elijah, not for the sole reason of him compelling Caroline Archer.

"I don't know what went on, but all I know is that we may be thousand years old but we all still have those moments… Elijah the kid who always wants good grades because he is afraid to disappoint any one, and you Niklaus, you're actually is the biggest kid of all. You throw tantrums at the smallest thing, whenever you don't get your way…. and most of the time you are like that little boy on the playground that always keep pulling the pigtails of the girl he has a crush on… I hope you understand what I'm implying,"

Klaus felt uneasy by 'the not so great' profile Finn created of him, "I do understand what you are implying Finn, but all I can do is laugh at your very poor analytical skills," staying true to his words, Klaus did laugh and arrogantly so.

"I've been catching up on some books written by this fellow called, 'Sigmund Freud' that Caroline recommended, and according to that gentleman, I'm sure my assumptions are hundred percent right,"

Klaus couldn't decide for what he should be more bothered by, Elijah's monkey grin, Finn's overconfidence or by the fact that Caroline and Finn were discussing about books.

"I didn't know Sigmund Freud wrote a book about psychology of vampires?" Klaus jeered, provoking an unexpected almost a knowing smile out of Finn.

"Rebekah looks quite cheery tonight," Elijah managed to steer their attention to their sister, who was happily conversing with one Stefan Salvatore.

Unlike their sister, Stefan looked rather uncomfortable and his eyes kept straying towards the crowd, his eyes scanning for any sort of danger that may come their way, especially the kind of danger that could harm Caroline, the one he was compelled to protect.

"If you two are here, and Rebekah is flirting with the ripper and…" Klaus looked about the room until his eyes caught on to the sight of their youngest brother, who had another glass of champagne with him as he ogled the young Bennet witch, "If Kol is over there, drooling, gaping at Bonnie Bennet… where the hell is Caroline? Who is watching over her?" Klaus just handed his glass to one of his vampire slaves who was standing close by, who took the glass with no questions asked.

"Calm down brother… I was just talking with her before I saw the two of you and decided to come this way, I'm sure few of your vampires are keeping an eye on her," Finn reassured, his voice calm but his expression told otherwise.

"I can't calm down Finn!" Klaus walked a bit towards the crowd and started to scan each and every face, each and every blonde head that he saw, "Why did I even for a second think I can trust you lot to keep an eye on her! This just goes to prove when you want something done you have to do it yourself," Klaus muttered.

"I'm sure Caroline's fine… I didn't catch anyone doing anything suspicious so far," Elijah added, and Klaus could only feel hatred brewing up inside at the way Elijah uttered her name, for he felt Elijah had lost the right to say that name the day he decided to compel her.

"You never know Elijah, sometimes trouble comes in forms that you least expect it," Klaus after passing a narrowed eye at Elijah, went bit more into the crowd.

He could almost smell her scent even amongst the humans that filled the room.

"We'll too split out and look for her," Klaus heard Finn say before he heard the sound of their footsteps fade into opposite directions.

Elijah searching for Caroline made Klaus quite edgy and he made it a point to find his 'weakness', before his brothers.

Klaus went from one end to the other end of the packed living room, but there was no sign of her. He feared his worst nightmares may have been realized. He hated himself for allowing Rebekah to go ahead with all this shenanigans just to win the bloody heart of some man who no longer gave two cents about her.

Just as he thought of going to the gardens to go search for her, from the other corner of the room he accidently saw a glimpse of a blonde headed girl descending from the stairs, with the same blonde headed young man, that the older Salvatore once referred to as '_Captain America aka Matt'_.

Klaus wanted to go to her, shout at her and ask, where she had disappeared off to, but he stood there in his corner, almost hiding behind a guest, watching her slowly walk down the stairs, wearing a striking blue dress that made her look a princess that one could only read about in books, and at that moment he felt that nothing or no one could even think to compete against her beauty.

The whole of the women gathered there could laugh, smile but their smiles could not compare to the subtle splendor of Caroline's pink lips that curved into a smile as she strolled down.

She started talking with someone as soon as she got down the stairs.

The Matt guy was standing near by, his eyes glued to Caroline, glued to her very talkative lips.

"I believe we haven't met," Damon Salvatore stood in front of Klaus, somewhat obstructing his view.

"Actually we have…" Klaus tried to walk away, he didn't want anything to do with Damon, and essentially there was something very nauseating about his demeanor that Klaus just couldn't stand.

"Oh right! How could I forget? You took over my buddy Alaric's body," The Salvatore grinned, doing something with his eyes, "Well now that I think about it… the situation look really similar… I mean….you and me looking at the crowd and you spotting Caroline Forbes, I mean Archer…. and She in the arms of Captain America. It's like Déjà vu almost…"

"So glad you made that connection…" Klaus said offhandedly, "But before I lose my temper and do something that sends all the guests running, I think it'll be wise if you go back to the same corner you crawled out from, and get out of my sight," He pushed the dark haired Salvatore to the side for he had spotted Caroline moving to another circle of people, leaving the young jock who apparently was caught between two old ladies that seemed very engrossed in him.

"As a matter of fact, I think I just found myself a reason to get out of your sight," Damon's remark earned a very puzzled look by Klaus, and when he turned, he discovered as to what or rather to whom Damon had been implying to; it was the doppelganger. She was standing by the door looking at the crowd, at the elder Salvatore who started to walk towards her in a whim.

A second later, Stefan, Klaus saw deserting his much thwarted looking sister, and running to the doppelganger matching Damon's speed. Klaus wondered looking at the trio; the doppelganger and the two brothers, and he pondered whether the doppelganger has truly come out of hiding because she was tired or was it some kind of a trap to lure him to his demise, but either way he decided he should by no means let his guard down and he turned his attention to the one he should truly be worried over, his only flaw, the female blonde flaw.

However when he spun back, Caroline had once more disappeared; she was not there where she was just a while ago.

Klaus looked around frantically, as though he had just lost his last breath.

A minute or so later, he finally found her; standing just few yards away and right next to the string quartet, and her gaze quite surprisingly was set on him.

His lips quivered as if they had a long story to say to her, but nothing but a low groan came out. He may have been standing too far away to see all that well, maybe he was simply imagining but he thought her eyes were travelling to his lips, and inevitably his eager eyes mimicking her movements trailed towards her full lips.

He blamed the distance, for he could not see every little tremble her lips made.

Suddenly, she tore her eyes away from him, as if to break the spell that had them caught up in each other. Then she started to talk with the woman in front of her, yet her attention he believed was still on him, for he could faintly see her peering at him from the corner of her eyes.

He took a step not in her direction but to his right, still holding his stare on her, prowling like a cat that had spotted its game.

She moved to another group of people, and the way her eyes stirred made her seem a deer teasing its hunter.

It became apparent for Klaus that she was truly making a game of it, may be unconsciously so, but still she was making a 'catch me if you can game' off of it, for whenever he would move she would move, whenever someone walked in front of him blocking his view of her, she would be standing in a different position than before. It may have been something in the drink or maybe it was the rather dramatic classical music playing in the background, or maybe it was just because it was her that he felt he was failing at whatever the game she had started to play. But he was never a one to back down from any sort of game until he had won, thus he took courage and decided to wait for the right moment.

Then just as a guest walked in front of him, deciding his moment had come, he disappeared back into the crowd. He placed himself tactfully so that even though he could see her perfectly she could not even see his shadow cascaded on to the ballroom floor.

The instant she realized he was out of her scope, she was definitely searching for him.

He beamed, as he secretly watched the way her eyes started to comb the crowd for him, standing up on her toes now and again to look over the heads of the guests, flashing a very artificial smile to hide her concern over losing him amongst the crowd.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Rebekah announced standing upon the stairway, silencing one and all, taking everyone's notice, even Caroline's. "We'll start the night off with a dance which was passed on to us by our ancestors… I know most of you may not be accustomed to it, but I assure you it's easy to follow... So... everyone is welcomed to join the dance floor with their partners."

In truth it was not a dance of their ancestors, but what Rebekah was referring to was a dance made up by her, in the eighteen hundreds, which she wanted to make popular as 'The Mikaelson'. Though it never caught on because of the precarious nature of it, this dance which was a combination of bit of square dancing, renaissance dancing and mostly the waltz, it did become the vampire version of speed dating of that time. The sole purpose of the dance was to get the vampires to mingle with humans so that the vampires would be able to pick out the right kind of humans they would to take to bed with them and taste at night, thus it involved a whole lot of partner switching. If you were a vampire who was more than a hundred years old it was expected for you to know 'The Mikaelson'.

"In a couple of minutes the string quartet would start playing again… I hope you all find a partner, and join us," Rebekah's hopeful eyes turned to Stefan, who seemed much ill-prepared to show a positive reaction to her stare. For the smile he finally managed to bring out looked more than fake.

Klaus took that chance, that moment, where Caroline's attention was elsewhere, to go around the crowd so that he could stand behind Caroline.

He had moved carefully enough so that she wouldn't detect the movements, hear his footsteps approach her.

This weird game of theirs reminded him of a game with similar traits they used to play, thousand years ago, when he still had the ability to change into a wolf. There were no rules to it, he would simply chase her in his wolf form and later he would hide behind some tree, and watch her walk about trying to find him, and when she finally stopped he would secretly leap at her from the back. It was the time he believed he had felt he was himself, he had felt as though he was free. Just playing around with Caroline now in the middle of a room filled with people; some enemies, some family and some family, who he could no longer trust Klaus was surprised how he felt that same freedom, how he felt like the same being he was then.

"Excuse me," Klaus uttered standing right behind the blonde who jumped a bit startled by his voice.

Caroline turned and she looked as though she was going to say tit for tat for whatever he had to say.

"I was wondering, if you would like to dance with me?" He stretched his hand out as if he was asking for Caroline's hand, then just as she was about to reject his offer, he ignoring her gaze quickly maneuvered the hand towards the brown haired girl that Caroline had been talking with.

"Of course" The brunette answered enthusiastically, no doubt feeling triumphant of the fact she had been chosen over Caroline, and she lent her hand very eagerly.

He could sense the scorching fire of Caroline's gaze on him as he took the girl's jittery hand and led her to the dance floor with dozens of crafty thoughts perking his lips up, "And what is your name sweetheart?" He took the girl's hand to his mouth and gently brushed it against his lips, his eyes glancing behind to check if he had caught the interest of his target audience of one very headstrong blonde.

"Dana," He heard the young girl utter shyly as he placed themselves within the line of couples waiting for the music to start.

"Pretty name for a pretty girl," He intently watched the teenager blush, knowing that there was a pair of blue eyes scrutinizing his reactions from afar.

"Caroline, ehm I'm not sure how this dance go exactly, but I'm willing to give it a try if you'd show me how," Matt's shy request, was heard by both the musing Caroline and the scheming Klaus, who not so gracefully, and much too obviously, spun his head around to see what Caroline's reply would be.

Her eyes lit up as though she was about to draw out one of her trump cards and she replied to the high school boy with her stubborn scowl narrowed on to Klaus, "Yes! I would love to!" She clung to his arm, expressing her affection to her dance partner somewhat exaggeratedly, her eyes batting obviously to look like she was mesmerized by the boy, when she was probably not.

Klaus watched as Matt and Caroline come stand ready to dance.

The music started and Klaus dragged Dana across the ballroom. The girl would almost stumble; fumble so badly on her steps, but he didn't care he just went from one dance step to another, his gaze and ears set up on the couple standing opposite side of him.

"So… how have you been Caroline?" Matt was asking, his anxious stutter only made Klaus laugh at the human's feeble attempts to make conversation with Caroline, who the teenager was very obviously attracted to.

Caroline's head waved left to right slightly as she weighed in all the factors before she answered, "Ok I guess… seeing that I'm still alive… technically," She blabbered.

"I've missed you," Matt spoke into her ear and as a retort to the young boy's gesture, Klaus moved the brunette in his hand closer to him.

"I missed you too… especially our movie nights," Caroline answered back into his ear but Klaus could see her stare was upon him, as if challenging him to do something about it.

She seemed very skilled at this game, Klaus thought, for he felt helpless as all he wanted to do was to walk over to them and snap Matt's neck into two, which with all the people around he found a bit difficult to accomplish, moreover he feared how he would go about explaining what had driven him to kill the high school footballer all of a sudden.

"Yeah me too… I kind of dragged Tyler to the movies a few times, but it wasn't the same…" The young lad added in a very disjointed tone.

"No matter what happens Matt… you can always count on me… just because I'm stuck in this house doesn't mean I've forgotten our friendship," Caroline looked into the eyes of her dance partner, to let him know she was being earnest, and Klaus felt that she had completely forgotten their weird little game as she spoke to her 'friend'.

Yet, Klaus could feel a wave of relief run through him as she called themselves 'Friends', but he hoped Matt and Caroline were nothing like the friends they used to be a millennium ago.

"I know that," Matt smiled.

"So Caroline used to be the captain of the cheerleading squad, and then she suddenly disappeared," Dana had turned his head around to her by his chin, and she rambled on like a train that didn't know where to stop, "Then they made me the captain, cause Elena also disappeared… anyway… Elena has been really whiny ever since the day her parents died… I mean I can understand her, but you can't be a cheer leader and whine at the same time…It just doesn't go… Did I mention I hate Caroline and her little gang of friends?"

"Hmm…" He didn't know what he was agreeing to but he did because he just wanted to let Dana carry on with whatever, so that he could eavesdrop on Matt and Caroline's conversation.

"Did you hear from your mom?" Caroline was asking almost in a sisterly tone.

"No, but the sheriff said she'll try to find out something," There was a clear break in Matt's voice, Klaus could almost read the seventeen or eighteen years or so hard life Matt may have had, in that one line.

"Do you think Caroline will come back to school and take my cheer leading position away from me again?" Dana was trying to get his attention for the umpteenth time.

She has crossed the limits, "Keep your mouth shut until we change partners," He looked at the girl straight in the eyes and compelled her, and as he pranced around to the string quartet, he lent his ear once more to the conversation he had been listening to all this while.

"I'm sure she's fine," Caroline smiled, nodding hoping the young chap would follow her lead and smile back, forget his worries for that one second.

That smile, that reassuring tone Klaus thought should not be wasted on Matt, even Stefan or anyone else.

"I doubt it. I wouldn't be surprised if she's rotting in a jail somewhere," Matt smiled, laughed almost at his misery, but then in a moment it disappeared, but in that small moment he had chosen to give into Caroline's warmth and smile it truly had seemed the young man had momentarily managed to forget about his woes.

With a very awkward spin Matt sent Caroline off to a different partner, a dark haired man that smirked when Caroline landed in his arms and Klaus too then gleefully let go of Dana to the hands of some unsuspecting fool. Yet, unfortunately for Klaus the tradeoff was not much to smile about, for his new partner who spun into his hand was his own sister, his ever nagging sister, who much like Kol would not waste a second to call him out whenever his eyes would stay on Miss Archer longer than necessary.

"You look pretty busy spying on your weakness?" Rebekah pointed her nose at his 'weakness', who looked to be hiding her face from the man she was dancing with, as though she despised the man who was looking at her so ardently. Klaus wanted to know the story between them, what caused her to hate him, but he didn't want his sister to know that was the reason he was so keenly studying them as they danced, "Well since all who promised, seems not all that interested about whether someone kills me by killing Caroline, I thought I keep an eye on her myself,"

Rebekah laughed in his face not buying into the half lies, which he not only said to convince her but also said to convince himself.

Before the topic could be dragged out, Klaus spotted a very familiar face appear at the entrance, he repositioned himself so that Rebekah too could see what he had spotted, "Isn't that…"

"Sage… Yes that was Caroline's little gift for Finn…" Rebekah stared at the red head, who looked about the crowded room.

"How do you suppose she found her?" Klaus was curious, how could Caroline of all people, who had barely left the house except for some necessary shopping sprees, find a woman that had been running around wild looking for her lover.

"Who knows?" Rebekah shrugged, "Look! Finn has just spotted Sage," Rebekah added enthusiastically noticing their eldest brother Finn running through the crowd and finally embracing sage.

Klaus looked upon the reunited lovers with a mixture of delight and envy.

"You look beautiful tonight, Caroline" The voice of Caroline's dance partner complimenting her made Klaus turn his eyes back to Caroline.

"Did Matt tell you to be nice to me Lockwood?" Caroline barked twirling gingerly to the music.

"No… I'm telling you the truth!" The man stated, his muscly hands and ungraceful steps Klaus could see was trying hard to keep up with Caroline who looked as graceful as ever as she danced perfectly to the three four beat of the classical music that was being played.

"Then In that case, thank you," she smiled somewhat coyly.

Klaus didn't like one bit the way that conversation was going, and the 'Lockwood' fella that she danced with didn't smell human, and it bothered him, for he could be the one to take Caroline away from him, he could be the man he should be protecting Caroline from. He noted Caroline's this dance partner as another candidate that deserved a good old neck snapping.

"I feel like I should break her neck… Don't you think that's a good idea?" Rebekah was muttering angrily.

"Yes," Rebekah's thoughts were so like him, he simply agreed not thinking of it, for his concentration was on Caroline and his clumsy friend, who at that moment had stepped on Caroline's dress.

"So what's going on with my buddy Matt and you?" Lockwood boy held Caroline tightly, for she was about to fall as a result of his clumsiness.

Klaus knew exactly how she felt in his arms, how well she fit into him, for now there was that extra memory of him holding her crying form against his chest in an icy cave floating in his head, for now there were those visions of her straddled on him, visions that he had seen when he had intruded upon her dreams and thus it irritated him that Lockwood had that pleasure he no longer had, which he may not ever have again.

"We're just friends, Tyler!" Caroline proclaimed loudly gathering her footing again and catching up to the beat.

"Are you sure?" Tyler Lockwood seemed as interested in the Caroline's relationship status as Klaus was at that moment.

"Yes!" Caroline was firm with her answer.

"So you think its ok for me to kill the doppelganger?" Rebekah was talking again, or she may have been talking all the while, but Klaus may have not been listening to her.

"Yes," Klaus had said at first, but giving more thought to her question this time around he managed to understand what Rebekah was asking, thus he stuttered, "I mean No… why do you want to kill the…" he paused and looked for the doppelganger and from what he saw, the way she was dancing with Stefan, he instantly realized why his sister was so keen on murdering the brunette, "Sorry little sis the doppelganger is out of bounds, but If you want to snap the head of that guy over there," he pointed his face towards Damon Salvatore, "I'll be all for it.."

"What would I be getting by killing him? Stefan would just hate me more?" Rebekah frowned worrying over the repercussions she may have to face.

"I guess you're right, but he just gets on my nerves, I just thought it would be fun to see that cocky smile wiped off his stupid face," Klaus was feeling stressed by the game, he needed an outlet, killing one arrogant, cocky Damon Salvatore he figured just might do the trick.

Rebekah raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure it has nothing do with Caroline?" She then quickly closed her mouth so her impending smile will not accidently jump off her lips.

"And why would you think that?" Klaus narrowed his eyes at their Blonde topic that was twirling away in to the other corner of the room with Tyler Lockwood.

"Well lately everything that you do seemed to have something to do with Caroline," Rebekah replied, her smile finally leaping out of her.

"That's not true," It could have been, he didn't know for sure.

Then it came to the point of the dance that he had to change partners once more and Klaus elegantly let his sister go, and as soon as Rebekah latched on to another man, an unknown human tangled herself in his arms, who thankfully looked a timid girl that would never say two words to him.

"So what's going on between you and Rebekah?" Klaus heard Caroline ask her newest partner Stefan Salvatore.

Stefan was mute as Klaus' partner. The revelation about Caroline keeping his past with Rebekah a secret seemed to have dented their friendship.

"Giving me the silent treatment? Well I invented it buddy!" Caroline croaked trying to bring out a laugh from Stefan.

Stefan's somber face could have given a good run for Finn's '_I've lost my love'_ face a run for his money.

Seeing that her plan had not worked on the brooding vamp, she changed her approach, "I told you I was sorry…" She threw in her puppy dog look.

Klaus wouldn't have taken Stefan to be a stubborn man, but he seemed to have been wrong, for how else could have Stefan ignored that amiable expression Caroline was making.

"I thought I was protecting you…" She said sincerely, but the younger vampire would not budge, "Stefan?"

"But now you think It's ok for me to be with Rebekah? When you know very well that I'm in love with Elena?" Stefan was harsh on her friend when he led her about the ballroom.

"A-" She said in a serious tone as she began to list out why she thought she was doing the right thing, "You couldn't control your urges back then, but now you can… all thanks to me and 'B -'Rebekah loves you and you loved her and you just need to be reminded of how it felt… and 'C' - as much as I think Elena is a lovely girl, you are not in love with her… you are in love with the idea of her, because she looks like Katherina… and 'D'… this is the most important one… she is in love with your brother," Caroline glowered at Stefan who looked lost for words, "You wanted me to be honest… so there it is…" she added coldly.

There was an awkward silence as Klaus passed by them rather closely along with his partner. Then as he was out of their way Stefan began to mumble, his eyes shadowed and grayed with confusion, "I don't know any more Caroline…"

"About what?" Caroline's eyes were on Klaus, she seemed to be thinking about their game all over again, and Klaus licked his lips at the thought of winning it if she were to ever resume it.

"I'm not sure the reason I'm so loyal to you is because Klaus had compelled me or because I genuinely consider you a friend," But Stefan's problem took precedence, for her stare fell upon the Salvatore.

"Stefan…" before Caroline could explain, the next step required them to once more change partners.

Yet again while Klaus found himself with a partner as quiet and boring as the last one, Caroline on the other hand was thrown off towards his brother, '_Elijah_,'

"Caroline," There Elijah went again, calling her name, boiling Klaus's blood.

"Elijah," She bowed slightly as if to show courtesy. Klaus wanted to scream at the top of his lungs and say Elijah did not deserve any such civility.

"I'm glad you're back…" Caroline scanned the area, and her eyes stopped when they met Klaus'. She was not playing some game this time; she was plain and simply worried over what he may think of her dancing with Elijah, he could tell that much from her eyes, although the rest of what she thought of him was a mystery to him, a blur to him, especially since now he had seen inside of her dreams, since now he knew that lot more may have happened between them than he had first thought, more than just one night together in a palace in India.

"You are?" Elijah's dumbfounded tone, brought both Klaus and Caroline from their dazing, and Caroline shifted her eyes back to her partner who keenly awaited her answer.

"Of course I am. Who else would keep your family in line? Finn can't do it all by himself," Caroline smiled weakly for she as well as Klaus knew that was not the answer Elijah was expecting.

Elijah made up a smile, but it was not enough to hide the disappointment in his eyes.

Throughout the next few bars of music which they had to dance together they were silent. Klaus time to time looked over at them, studied them, scrutinized every little fidget she made, analyzing every moment Caroline looked up at Elijah.

Then thankfully the dance demanded that everyone change their partners yet again.

"Damon," Caroline was mumbling angrily at her new partner.

"Caroline Archer, You look sexy as always," The dark haired Salvatore sneered.

It was not just Caroline who seemed to have had the long end of the bargain for Klaus had ended up with the doppelganger. "Elena Gilbert, how nice of you to come to my house," He tried to act like he gave a damn.

"I got a bit tired of waiting for you to make your move, so that we can kill you," The girl seemed a bit more courageous than the last time he had seen her, for perhaps then she was rattled and too busy running away with Stefan to safety, afraid of him.

"So I guess that means this is you making a move? You and your little gang?" There was something suspicious about her, the way her eyes couldn't stay focus on one spot for more than one second.

"May be…" The doppelganger rolled her eyes and then they ended upon Damon and Caroline as if to divert Klaus' attention onto them.

Her little deviation did work for all Klaus could see now was Damon's eyes run up and down on Caroline, head to toe. "You look stunning,"

"Ugh... you smell like bourbon," She complained moving her head sideways as if to move her nose away from his stench.

"Some girls find it sexy," He pulled her closer, groped her almost, irregular for a traditional dance more than a century old, but Klaus wouldn't have expected nothing more than that from Damon Salvatore who he didn't think much of, who he had always considered an uneducated savage.

"Well I'm not some girl," She pushed him back and straightened her shoulders, and changed her posture into something better suited for that particular dance.

"Well don't I know it, Blondie," Damon smirked, his hand slowly running down and stopping right above the small of her back, casting a glance at Elena who was in Klaus' arms.

It was a game then, Klaus realized, a game much like what he and Caroline was playing. Klaus smiled to himself acknowledging the parallels.

"Then why do you think I will keep quiet while you move your hands down my back… This not some dance you do in a night club!" Caroline seemed to echo Klaus' thoughts.

"They just seem to have a mind of their own," He let his hand slither further down over her blue dress.

Damon may have been playing a game, acting, but it was all too real for Klaus.

"Seriously?" Caroline slapped Damon's ill behaving hands, "Aren't you like in love with Elena?" Caroline turned to point at Elena but mistakenly she met Klaus' stare. She quickly turned her startled eyes back to the annoying Salvatore she had to dance with, but the hesitation in Caroline's eyes smelt like victory for Klaus.

Damon grumbled, "Aren't you like in love with the big bad or something? I don't see that stopping you from doing a little flirty flirt with those two quarter backs, I saw you sneak back to the ballroom together,"

"I was not! I wasn't flirting with Matt and Tyler!" Caroline protested for what Damon had said, but she wasn't denying every word, and Klaus felt rather optimistic and encouraged by the fact.

Then it was time again to spin the partners into the hands of another, and as luck would have it, as this traditional dance went Klaus found Caroline to be his new partner, not that he was oblivious to the fact that this dance the Mikaelsons had made theirs required to change partners and that he would ultimately end up with her, but when she spun a couple of times and collided into him, he was overwhelmed.

She was about to run away, but he stopped her by her forearm, "Are you still angry with me Caroline?"

"Isn't that the normal sentiment between us… we hate each other don't we?" She argued standing still while others danced. Every word she said felt like a song, even if they were sharp and aimed to poke on his unseating heart.

Before the idly standing guests started to wonder why they were not dancing he took her hand, gently but firmly, and began to sway, the contact leaving him almost electrified.

He spun her slowly and caught her back into the normal hold; it felt as though that all that was divine was now in his bare hands, now in his possession.

He wanted to clear the air, do whatever to make the dark clouds that hovered above them disappear for there was so much he knew now that he hadn't before, "Caroli..."

She cut him off, "Let's not spoil the night by talking about the past,"

"Very well then," He nodded and silence ensued for the next few seconds.

"So…You were having a nice time with your partner earlier?" She blurted suddenly.

There was wariness in her voice, anger in her eyes, and he was highly amused by it, "You mean the lovely Miss Dana?" There was nothing lovely about the teenager in his eyes, annoying was the better word to describe the girl, but he wanted to feed Caroline's spite, for it seemed their little game had resumed, or maybe it never had stopped to begin with.

"Yes… Dana, 'The new cheer leading captain of Mystic Falls High'," She answered bitterly, gritting her teeth scanning for the young girl who she had found dancing with Damon Salvatore.

"You sound a bit jealous love," He smiled tickled by her tone.

"Oh please… of some teenage girl? I'm a thousand year old vampire… I could do hundred back flips in a raw with my eyes closed," Caroline straightened her pose, and tilted her head to the side with poise as he led her around the dance floor.

"Well I'd like to see that some time," He grinned sneakily, imagining her doing just that and perhaps more. However he was pleased that Dana had been the topic of their conversation not how they ended things last time around.

"Ugh..." She grunted, almost pulling herself out of his hold.

It merely made him pull her closer to him, for the little grunt only made him want to be acquainted with every tiny sound she would make, but he felt it was a mistake to have her so close to him, for he could see the blurred line between them fade nearly into nothingness.

He could smell her now, much better than before, and she smelt like she always did, utterly delectable.

She was his flaw, his weakness, and he was merely interested in getting to know about his past, nothing more, he kept telling himself, but his mind seemed not willing to listen, very keen to call him a liar.

As he became preoccupied with his thoughts cravings, and his weakness standing before him, he bumped into another couple as they danced by. Klaus hurriedly turned to pardon himself, but the other couple who happened to be his arrogant brother 'Kol' and the Bennet witch, who had a big smile on her face, had already danced their way out of Klaus' range, "Well I'll be damned, Isn't that the Bennet witch smiling with Kol?"

"There goes my fifty bucks…" Caroline sighed loudly.

"What?" Klaus chuckled fascinated by her admission, and he felt he may not have grinned as so in years.

"We had a bet going, Kol and I. He said he could get one genuine smile out of Bonnie before the night ends, without compulsion and I bet against him. I thought Bonnie Bennet was stronger than that… So weird!" Caroline waving her head disappointedly so looked upon the young witch who was dancing with Kol.

"Well he is persistent… especially when it comes to witches, but who knows he may have used compulsion, and you may not have to give up your fifty bucks after all," Klaus watched Caroline's red lips purse together as she realized that the bet should have never been made.

Klaus on the other hand felt himself lean forward as if he wanted to know how soft her lips may be, how that cherry gloss on her lips may taste.

Her lips started to move back and her eyes shot sharply at him, he moved his head back again, to a position which he considered safe.

"He sometimes reminds me of someone I know… He's very persistent too," Caroline raised an eye brow, to show that it was her current dancing partner that she was referring to.

"I wonder who?" He played along.

She smiled back and Klaus couldn't believe that some nights ago they were at each other's throats, hurting each other, opening old wounds; but tonight it was different, the past almost forgotten.

"You're getting along really well with my family aren't you?" Klaus added, as he took her by both her hands and pushed her away from him taking a step back, merely to meet again when he pulled her back to him to the rhythm, in correlation with other dancers who did the same step.

"Haven't I always?" She rested one hand on his shoulder while the other stayed rested in his hand.

"Yes, I believe you have," His other hand fastened on her waist, as if he didn't want to let this rare specimen of a woman who could stand his family get away, "And how may I ask you found Sage?"

"Well when you have friends, unlike some people I know… you can call around, ask favors and track people down," Caroline rotated her hips softly as he guided her to the center of the floor.

She glided with her feet with such ease as if she was floating among the clouds.

"Or you can always instill the fear of god upon them to get them to do what you want. In fact I find that more entertaining than compelling people…" He was sure this statement would get a reaction.

"I like my way better," And she did react as expected, she tossed her hair back, disapproving his ways with one ferocious look.

He studied her face as she stubbornly turned it away from him, he studied the way she felt locked in his arms, the way her little smooth palm comfortably sat in his, the way their bodies kept touching ever so lightly as they moved to the music. Some may call these old dances rigid, but it was just what he needed. It allowed him to be closer to his 'enemy', his 'weakness'; it allowed him to feel like he was embracing her, 'his once upon a time friend' to his heart's content without her noticing, without letting things go out of hands, without him wanting to devour her then and there, devour the woman who he remembered making love to in India.

The feeling suddenly re-awoke his memory of embracing her inside some cave, the memory of him consoling her after the death of Tatia's daughter, "Caroline… today…. Martin was able to give some of my memories back…" He thoughtlessly blabbered, "I… didn't remember all of it… I was chasing you… to get to Tatia's daughter 'Thea' and she…"

"She died…" Her face changed, he regretted what he had said the moment he saw her face go dark, her eyes go dimmer, "She died Niklaus because of you!" She blamed him just as she had done back in the memory, and he felt as bad as he may have felt that day, "Why did you have to bring that up now?" She freed herself from him, and stood still on the dead center of the dance floor as others merrily danced around them, unaware of Klaus' foolishness that had brought their dancing to an abrupt halt.

"Caroline… I'm so…" Before he could finish his words, before he could stop her, she had run off.

"Hi again," As he was about to follow her, Dana once more had spun back to his arms to dance the last minute or so left of the dance.

"Not Now Dana!" Klaus pushed the young girl away and went after Caroline, who he saw run up the stairs.

She was stumbling on the handle of the closed door that led to her room, when he caught up to her, "Caroline, wait!" He stood behind her.

"Go away!" She was intent on opening the door, but for her dismay the door was not agreeing with her for some reason.

"Caroline." He turned her to him by her shoulders, "Listen to me!"

"I don't want to talk about Thea or anything else with you!" Tears were falling from her eyes, her head bowed down trying to hide the blue eyes that were now red, and her light make up was ruined, she looked a broken doll unwilling to be fixed.

"Ok then, if you don't want to talk about my memory…" He held her firmly by her elbows, fighting hard to not let go of one just to run his hand on her face, and may be smear off the tear lines, "May be if you want I can ask Martin to help get your memory back," He suggested.

"I don't want to!" She drew back, but he didn't let go. He trapped her in fact, thrusting her back to the door.

He kept trying to look at her face and she kept trying to hide it from him. "Why?" His voice dropped, as he gently let one of her elbows go and lifted her eyes to him, by her chin.

"I don't know!" She stared at him through the pool of tears.

"But… why?" He simply whispered.

"Because… because, I'm afraid?" She whispered back almost incoherently.

"Of what?" The innocent manner the way she spoke made him slant his face to the right and look at her, and as he stared he realized he wanted nothing but to know her fears and destroy them so that they couldn't hurt her anymore.

"Of… everything…" Her words were broken apart by her sobs.

His other hand too instinctively came up to her face, "Don't be," and he cupped her small face with his hands, they trembled as his fingers touched her damped cheeks.

"But... I am…" Her eyes closed as she inhaled an unnecessary breath, her chest heaving against his.

He lined their faces together, and their foreheads almost touched, their noses slightly brushed against each other. "Trust me..." He pleaded, he knew she may not, for he wasn't the kind of man anyone would feel safe trusting, that she would feel safe trusting, but he felt that was all he could offer her at the moment.

Hey eyes slowly opened again at his request, her lips shivered before they parted to say something, "I know you told me what happened, but… I'm scared Nik, I'm scared of that memory. I'm scared what it is about… how it will change what I believe. I'm scared that I was the one who wanted to forget the memory… I'm scared of the truth Nik," Her words sent him spiraling back to that confession Elijah had made, of what he said about Caroline wishing that she could forget and start over. He too feared that truth, but not more so as to her not being able to remember that night together, where he gave her the choice to change their roles in the game of life, to choose a side, and he did not fear that truth as much as he feared him not being able to remember the year of his life he had spent with her. The bit of it he could remember he was disappointed and content about; disappointed because, it was too little, and because of what he had seen happen to Caroline, and content because the way that memory had ended.

A sharp pain in his head suddenly made him release her, and he held onto his head. Images of his past began to flash in his eyes and he couldn't understand what was happening.

"Nik, what's wrong?" Caroline's hand was trying to break apart his hand that had now come to cover his eyes.

"I don't know!" He screamed as images of people he had hurt, killed, the blood in his hands of those who he slaughtered, the screams of those who feared him, everything, started to delve up on his head like a storm determined to destroy his mind.

"No! Stop!" His father's insults rang in his ears and he closed his ears firmly hoping it would just go away.

"Nik?" As if it was an effect of her voice, his head started to fill with images of her, when they were human, laughing, images of them talking by the stream till the sun went down; he began to remember his best memories with her and the worse.

"Ah! My head!" He tumbled to the floor while the pieces of his missing memories emerged in a very unnatural order and suddenly he was taken to the cold cave where he and Caroling were wrapped in a tight embrace. _He remembered,_ _her arms slowly were wrapping around his waist, and the sensation was making him open his eyes and look at her. _

_Her face was hidden in him; He could only see her blonde head just beneath his chin. The cave was not cold by any means nor was it supposed to be warm, but he was sure he felt his skin burn as he stood the with his arms around her._

_As if she had felt his eyes on her, she lifted her head up and opened her teary eyes to stare at him. His lips became parted and he gaped astounded by the haunting beauty of her eyes that made him grow weaker the longer he stared. _

_She started to slowly lift herself up from her toes, and her eyes roamed over his face, carefully studying every line, every blemish. Her eyes became softer as though they had found some invisible scars on his face, and her hand slowly reached up as though to sooth the pain of those unseen scars. _

_He winced the moment her soft fingers warily grazed his face and his eyes simply went shut at the awareness._

_He could feel her finger caress his face for a moment and then it abruptly stopped, for it seemed she had taken her hand away. _

_He hastily opened his eyes, only to find her lips inches away from him._

"_What are you doing Caroline?" She was supposed to hate him, hate him for driving the pregnant Petrova girl into the middle of nowhere, hate him for that it may have caused the pregnant woman's death, but the way her lips lingered seemed hate was the farthest thing on her mind._

_She was about to kiss him, he could feel it. _

_He was surprised that his old friend, the one and only friend he had had when he was human, who he now wanted to see as nothing more than an utterly despised enemy was daring to kiss him. However what surprised him the most was the fact that he was willing and aching for the lips of the woman that he thought of as a traitor to crash against his, to brush madly against his, he was aching for them to open and let him taste her._

_He looked on as her eyes closed. _

_The dead woman in the cave, the weeping man, the sleeping child, all seemed long forgotten memories._

_He felt his neck slightly bend naturally towards her, to allow her to reach him easily._

_Her smooth lips finally made contact with his lips. _

_It was the first time he had felt Caroline Archer's lips on his, and he had not felt nothing like it, if he had ever imagined how her lips tasted, he had imagined it all wrong, for nothing could compare to the feeling, nothing he could have imagined could have been right and just as his eyes were about to give in and close, she pulled away._

"_What are you doing Caroline?" He barely managed to ask, as he searched for her lips again, closing his eyes with the hope she wouldn't pull back further._

"_Distracting you?" He heard her mumble right before he felt a hard and cold something carve through his rib cage. His eyes jolted open, only to see Caroline had pierced him with an icicle that she had broken off from the cluster of icicles that had been hanging from the cave wall next to them. He looked up at her bewildered and she looked back somewhat repentantly._

"_Doran, take the child and run!" Caroline turn and shouted, while he pulled out the piece of ice out of his ribs, but only to be stabbed by another by her again._

"What's wrong Niklaus?" Her voice got him back to reality, out of his head.

He opened his eyes and he closed them again blinded by the lights, the shining chandeliers up on the ceiling of his Mystic falls mansion.

He forced his eyes to open again, afraid if he kept his eyes closed he'd be pulled back in to the whirlwind of memories, afraid that the numbing pain would take over again. It had to be the consequences of doing a spell that was not intended for those like him, these may be the consequences of being too eager to know memories that may have been better left untouched, that he shouldn't have prodded.

"Niklaus? Talk to me," Caroline was kneeling beside him, trying to get him to calm down.

"Get away from me Caroline!" It was as if he was once more reminded why he was supposed to hate her. He was beyond mad, he was mad that she had made their first kiss to be a mere distraction, as lovely as that brief moment was, she had destroyed it, he had had so much of expectations for this memory and she had destroyed it and he hated her for it.

Yes he had done far worse deeds, he was far severe, she may have done far severe things to him as well, but it was the first time he had known of such an incident and thus the memories were raw to him as if it had happened that exact moment.

"No I won't leave you," Caroline's hand he could feel warm up his face as they held his head up to her.

"No!" He shoved her away as the image of her stabbing him, replayed in his mind endlessly, "You tricked me!" he growled as the image of her kissing him and stabbing him flashed in his head whenever he would blink, "All you wanted was your stupid little Petrova girl," he wearily stood up, his legs still weak, his head still spinning.

She stood up along with him, her hand came behind him to steady him, but he brushed it off.

"What are you talking about Niklaus?" She was trying to touch him again, to sooth him but he simply walked a few steps to get away from her. He acted as if she was poison, and the tears that rushed down her cheeks as she tried to tend to him he thought were nothing but lies.

"I remember now… in that cave… you stabbed me," It hurt, his head, body everything, he dropped to the floor.

"Nik… that… that was a long time ago… Try to remember what happened afterwards, please…" She grabbed onto his hand and this time he was too weak to throw her hand away.

"No I can't… I don't want to," He muttered, he didn't want to know anymore, for it pained him too much.

"Please…" She kept asking, "Try to remember what happened after I stabbed you,"

May be it was her pleading, may be it was hope that everything would turn out for the better, for he had now shut his eyes trying to remember.

The cycle began again, childhood memories, his father's disgusting face, Elijah's betrayal; he had to go through them again, "No!" It was too much to take even for an Original vampire like him.

"Stefan… something is wrong with Nik," Caroline shouted, but Klaus kept his eyes closed.

"What do you think you're doing?" He heard Stefan ask a third set of footsteps and he couldn't open his eyes this time even if he wanted to, the memories were over taking him, the pain was controlling him.

He heard a large thud of someone falling to the floor, "Stefan!" Klaus heard Caroline scream and with all the strength he could muster he opened his eyes.

Stefan was lying next to him, dead or alive he couldn't tell.

Few feet away he saw his brother 'Kol' dragging Caroline away, he couldn't see all that clearly, his vision was still blurred, his head was still buzzing, but he thought he saw something different in his brother's eyes that he couldn't explain, a darkness that just wasn't 'Kol', "Kol… what.. is… happening?" Klaus mumbled, slowly getting to his feet, rocking about, searching for a wall to support.

"I'm just following orders…. I must take Caroline with me…." Kol garbled as if he was a zombie, as if his mind was being controlled, "If you try to take her I'm supposed to kill her," Kol may have said the latter like a robot, but Klaus could see a drop of tear running down Kol's eye, probably since he was internally struggling to fight off whoever that was controlling him.

"It's me that you want isn't it, Why not take me?" Klaus demanded an answer from his brother as he dragged Caroline towards the large window at the end of the hall.

"I was only told to bring Caroline," Kol coldheartedly answered, turning his back to him.

Klaus dragged himself along the wall to get to them. His hands searching for something to hold on to for his feet kept slipping.

"Nik!" Caroline said just before Kol broke her neck and hauled her over his shoulder.

It may have been the effect of the blood bond, because their lives were interconnected, for that exact moment Klaus heard Caroline's neck snap, he felt an unexplainable ache in his chest, a numbness he couldn't abide.

He fell back to the floor.

"Nik? Kol? What's going on?" Elijah came up the stairs, he immediately held onto Klaus who was about to fall once more.

Klaus yelled in pain as his head began to flood with unwanted memories, he yelled for it didn't let him get to Kol, "He's taking Caroline!"

Elijah let Klaus go and rushed after Kol in vamp speed but before he could go anywhere near them Kol had jumped off the window, crumbling the large glass into trillions of pieces.

Elijah did not give up the chase, he too jumped out, breaking the remaining pieces of the glass that had been hanging to the frame.

Klaus's eyes went shut again, and he collapsed to the floor, his memories consuming him.

Yet, he could still faintly hear few footsteps even in his deep sleep like state, "Nik, we heard screams? What happened to you? What did you do to Stefan?" He heard few different voices talking over each other.

He managed to slightly open his eyes, Finn, Sage and Rebekah was looking down at him, "It was Kol," Klaus stated before he lost to the pain and lost all conscious.


	15. Author Note 2

**A/N:** Sorry, this is not an update, **but the good news is** **I will hopefully be able to update within the next two weeks**. I haven't been able to go beyond thousand words for the last few weeks. I know where the story should go but I felt like I've run out of words or something. But now I've started to write again. So I might be able to update soon.

**Thanks so so so much for your patience, reviews, favourites and alerts!**

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	16. The Memories

**A/N:** Finally I finished this chapter, It was the hardest to write for some reason. Sorry to keep you all waiting for so long. Hope you all are still interested in reading this after all these days. Thanks to all the wonderful people who followed and favourited the story.

_Thanks **Sissi** for encouraging me, **Justine** thanks for your lovely review as well, you will find out in this chapter why Kol did what he did. Thanks to **Lawsy89**, **Jessnicole** and the **guest** who reviewed on the previous chapter of the story._

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**The Memories**

_He could no longer feel her tender touch on his face, but only the burnt trail it had left. _

_He opened his eyes yearning for her touch and they opened to catch her glaring at his lips, moving ever so tentatively towards him, "What are you doing Caroline?" His eyes too lingered towards her slightly parted lips, hoping the answer she would give to be the one he desperately wanted to hear. _

_She gave no answer. Her eyes gradually shut and her lips gently landed on his overtly eager ones._

_He was a vampire, a first of a kind, he had bedded many a women simply to bide time, he had kissed many a women for he simply enjoyed seeing them be seduced by that one kiss, but none seemed to have such an effect over him as her, no kiss had ever made him feel so numb and alive at the same time. He was 'Klaus', whom that all feared, yet as she kissed him he felt nothing but a slave willing to do anything to keep her lips on his. Where they were or why she was instigating something as daring as so or who was watching them, none of it mattered to him in that instance._

_He then felt her move back; he felt her lips slide off from his._

"_What are you doing Caroline?" He asked again, battling the little distance that he had to cross to devour her lips once more. _

_His eyes closed ready to make contact._

"_Distracting you…" She uttered in her sweet voice. _

_The meaning of her words hadn't even settled in his head when she had once more reminded him of who exactly they were to each other by piercing his skin all the way through to his insides with something severe._

_It may have just cut through his rib cage and landed near his lungs, but it was his dead heart that felt the most pain, it is what he heard rip apart. _

_His eyes shot opened and his hand quickly went to the end of the cold crystal like stick that was now instilled into his body. The cold he felt as he touched whatever the weapon she had used, made him realize it was merely a piece of ice that she had broken off from the cave wall. _

_He looked back at Caroline in sheer disbelief._

_Her eyes were discolored with a sort of darkness he couldn't quite call hatred, but something else altogether; may be regret, may be worry, maybe he simply didn't want to believe it was purely her despise over him that had darkened her eyes._

_The once glass like clear icicle was covered with his cold murky blood when he drew it out of his chest wailing in agony._

_She gave him no time to heal; she gave him no time to move, for before he could raise a finger she had stabbed him again with a larger piece of ice, on his stomach._

_Still dazed by what had happened a second ago, he humbly stood watching the woman who had kissed him so mind numbingly and then had stabbed him over and again._

_She turned to the bewildered dark haired man behind them and commanded, "Doran, take the child and run!" _

_Doran picked up the new born but waited, not all that sure what he was supposed to do, and his stare went to the child in his arms and to Thea's cold body._

"_Doran, go! Now!" Caroline broke apart another large thorn of stalactite hanging above her and again drove it through an inch or so above the heart of the vampire who she once used to call her friend._

_While pulling out the sharp and bloody pieces of ice out of him, he yelled after Doran who he saw run away through the dark passage leading to the entrance of the cave. _

_Caroline stood in his way, to stop him from going after Thea's friend and the child who had yet to see a sunrise. _

"_I must say I quite liked your first attempt to distract me much better to this," He rather than going after the runaways, walked closer to Caroline, drawing out a tiny piece of ice that was broken off and had rooted itself deep into his flesh._

"_I will not let you take her Niklaus!" Caroline's eyes for a moment went towards the cold corpse of the child's mother as if she was making a silent promise to it. "You can kill me if you want to, but I will not let you take her, not today," She sprang at him, her eyes filled with hard hearted determination, her fangs out._

_Either he was still taken aback by the kiss or still recovering from the stabbings or her ire had given her more drive and strength, for she was able to shove him to the cave wall, to near which dozens of ice pricks stood out. _

_The stalagmites crumbled and some shattered like glass the moment he fell on his back at Caroline's next attack. Yet some pesky little icicles that were stubborn enough to stand their ground pricked on his back. Some punctured almost all the way through the back of his body to the front._

_He watched the way she looked down at him with the corner of her mouth curved, feeling victorious. _

_He was not about to be deemed a looser, it was just not the way things were supposed to go, 'Klaus always won', thus he stubbornly with great force pulled himself off the floor, grunting as the spikes of ice glided out of him, ripping and tearing his flesh. _

_Surprising her with his inconceivable speed, he shoved her against the cold smooth pillar of ice on the opposite side and barricaded her using his own body. _

_His thumb ran on her full lips with his eyes contesting her fire like stare. He brushed away the few strands of hair that had kept her ear hidden. _

_As if it was magic her pale earlobe turned red as he moved closer to her and whispered, "How can I even think of killing you after having tasted your lips?" His fingers sunk in to the curls in her hair and turned her head so that her lips were closer to his own. _

_He dove into capture her pink lips, but of course she had quickly turned her head away to the side, making his lips accidently land on her exposed neck. It was as if she had done it purposely, to induce him to taint her perfect skin with his canines. "Caroline…" He breathed against her neck, "I... I… want to…" That was all that he could bring out of his poor mouth before he took a long shaky unneeded breath and dug into her skin with his teeth. Partly he wanted it to be her punishment for distracting him with a kiss, but mostly he believed he was just being a gluttonous fool._

_Caroline moaned, either to object or to egg him on and he was not in his clear mind to clarify which, and either way he was not about to stop, he could not stop. _

_Her hands at first impulsively did come to drive him off, but only to gently settle on his waist a moment later. She did try to move herself away, but only to shiver almost greedily when he had grasped her and brought her body closer to him._

"_You cannot… we cannot…" He heard her faint murmur, felt her hands run up his back. It was as though her hands were healing his scars wherever they roamed, for he had not felt such a power in a mere touch ever before. She had touched him when they were young, when they were human, but not like this, never like this._

_She had given herself up to him, he believed, he was sure, and thus how could he had not have indulged, how could he had not have obliged and tasted her for she was a willing victim._

_The more he drank more he wanted it, more he wanted her. _

_Unlike the first time he had slurped her precious blood, this time he did not have to feel guilty, did not have to drink with the fear that he might kill her, for she too was a vampire just as him._

_He drank until that it was her blood that ran through his dark veins; he drank until he felt her shudder and collapse, little moans sprouting on her lips still._

_With his gaze set up on the dark and almost invisible cave roof, he proudly pulled his teeth out of her neck. He reveled on the taste of the bit of her sweet blood, which his tongue managed to capture before it dripped out from the corner of his mouth._

_He then took in the view of the unconscious creature in his arms. Her hair splattered covering half of her face, her skin pale for he had almost drained every ounce of blood out of her. Her once unsoiled dress was now spoiled by her blood that had streamed down from her neck. _

_He licked the wound on her neck, making her hiss in her state of slumber._

_Her eyes fluttered opened very briefly, "Nik?" She questioned, before her eyes shut again. _

_For some reason unbeknownst even to him, he smiled looking down at her._

_Then he simply hauled Caroline over his shoulder. _

_He walked out of the cave and strolled through the hailing snow carrying her on his shoulder. He could see Doran's foot prints ahead of him, hear the child's cries far away._

_Although chasing after Tatia's grand child was not forgotten, it was simply put in the back burner, for he felt the blonde distraction on his shoulder warranted more attention._

_It may have taken him couple of hours or so to reach the two story castle he had made his home not but few days ago; brazenly hanging its rightful owner in the middle of the garden as a warning to anyone who may have thought he was just a name to be feared. _

_He scurried off into his room ignoring the servants that ran about at his arrival as though a flock of chickens with their heads cut off._

_As he lowered Caroline gently to his bed he could feel her slowly come back to consciousness._

_Her eyes had barely opened when her head landed on the soft pillow underneath, she had barely regained her strength but she by no means was prepared to just lay about the silk covered bed with no questions asked, "Niklaus, Where… what is this place?" She sat up on the bed, her hands holding on to the red sheets that were spread across the bed; her frightened eyes scanning every corner of the candle lit room, "Why did you bring me here?"_

"_Calm down love you are safe," He sat on the opposite side of the bed and it only made her more nervous, for she jumped out of bed and ran towards the door._

_He didn't even let her reach the large bronze handle on the door. He spun her around and threw her back in to the bed._

"_Where's Doran? Where's Thea's daughter?" Caroline mumbled sitting back up, her stare falling up on the large window she had spotted to the right of her, calculating, anticipating for the right moment to jump out._

"_You must rest now," He held her by her shoulder with his eyes searching for her blue ones that relentlessly stared at the window._

"_Where are they?" She demanded an answer, pushing his hands away, her eyes watering fearing what may have become of their fate._

"_The last I remembered they were both alive and well, and running away from me," He watched as she got off the bed and slowly backed up towards the window._

"_So you did not…" She trailed off glancing at the window behind her._

_He sped around and stood right in front of the window, "No… I let them go… there was a far more pressing matter, or rather someone I was more concerned about," before she had a chance to do anything, his hands wrapped around her little waist and made her lean against him, her back pressed to his chest._

"_What do you want from me Niklaus?" She turned her head around, her hair whipping him once on his face, her hands desperately attempting to untie the arms that were knotted around her waist._

"_I have not quite made up my mind about what am I to do with you, but…" He lost his words as his senses became weighted down by her smell, the feel of her little frame against his body. If she was not a vampire, he would have thought he heard her heart beat, if she was not a vampire he would have thought she was panting for air unable to endure the proximity, for he could have sworn he felt her body heave rapidly against him._

"_But what?" She asked, and he simply smiled in reply. "What does that smile mean?" Her brows narrowed trying to guess the meaning._

"_Nothing" He shrugged with his sneer intact._

"_Do you think you can keep me locked up in here? Do you think your little minions can stop me from escaping?" She turned herself around completely to face him._

_He smiled more for he liked this position better, thus he gripped her harder around her stomach, "No… they certainly would not," _

"_Then what are you going to do? Compel me?" She snarled. _

"_Well there's a thought!" He raised an eye brow trying to ignite her suspicion further, for it amused him, the way her face crumpled, the way her teeth gritted amused him greatly._

"_You would not! Would you?" She shook her head almost as though she believed if she waved 'No' he would ultimately mimic the response._

_As if to mock her he did mimic her, but with a sly grin adorning his lips, "No… And that is why, I just now decided to sleep right beside you. To make sure you do not escape of course," For some reason however much he believed he loathed her presence he knew he could not ever bring himself to compel her. _

"_No!" She was clearly against it, but her eyes wandered to the large bed in the middle of the room as if trying to imagine all that could go wrong in the night._

"_Scared?" He whispered and his hands untied themselves from her stomach to come and cup her face._

"_Repulsed!" She taking the chance walked back out of his reach, her hands wrapped themselves around her as though she missed his hands that had kept her enveloped._

"_The way you kissed me earlier told me otherwise," He ran at her, and halted dead in front of her fidgeting form._

"_That was nothing but a ploy…" Caroline walked back few more steps. She was still weak from their previous encounter it seemed, for the moment the back of her knee hit the bed behind her, she toppled on to it._

_He gladly followed suit. _

_Keeping himself lifted up by his arms that were on the either side of her, he hovered above her, "Well then, how about back in the day when I curled up against you after every full moon night? Without a single string of clothing I might add… You may have blushed a little bit, but you were never repulsed," He studied how her faded face slowly changed into a dark shade of pink at his words._

"_That was… that was… not… " She rambled meaninglessly, failing to explain why she had blushed then and why she was blushing as she spoke now._

"_What happened to us Caroline Archer?" He mouthed softly as he slowly lowered himself towards her, his face floating not more than a half an inch above hers. _

"_Well, if you cannot remember let me remind you Niklaus Mikaelson! Tis you that destroyed our friendship! You blamed everything on me! You hated me for something that I did not do to you! But when in truth it is me that should be hating you… when it is you that had deprived me of the life I had always wanted," She spitted out the bitter words without even flinching._

"_And have you not deprived me of everything I ever wanted?" He barked back, "It is because you told my father of my secret that I have now lost the one thing in my life I cared about, that I have lost the one thing that could have made me happy… and now you are trying to keep the doppelganger blood line from me, trying to stop me from becoming what I truly am!" All he said were words, true or not, he did not care, he only wanted to win this battle, the argument._

"_Being a werewolf was the only thing you cared about? Could have made you happy? Do you truly believe that? Because I do not," Her vengeful features turned soft, her spite broken and transformed to sadness, which he could not dare stare at._

_He hid his face in his shoulder and closed his eyes, "Yes!" he answered heartlessly. _

"_You do not even know what makes you happy. You did not know then and you do not know still. You have been living in this dark world of yours trying to hide from the rest of us for so long you have forgotten what happiness truly is," Her words cut him deeply, for he knew she may not have been that far from the truth._

_He looked at her, the way tears were forming in her eyes, "It may have never existed for me Caroline… may be I was never meant to be happy…" _

"_No one is ever meant to be anything… it is your choices that makes you what you are," Her tears broke loose and streamed down from the sides of her face._

"_This… what I am now… was never my choice," He glared at her as her tears rolled down and dampened the crumpled bed sheet. _

_He watched her lips shiver as she gathered her words._

"_Nor is the life that I have now, but I have managed to find happiness in the littlest of things. Still, even if it is for the thousandth time that I am seeing the sunrise, I still see the beauty in it, I still feel as happy as I did when I woke up next to you by the stream that ran through our old village." A gentle smile brightened her face probably reminiscing on their past, making the tears in her eyes twinkle a bit. _

_However, the woeful sigh that followed erased the light on her face in a matter of few seconds, "But you want to be in your dark little corner, because somewhere in your heart there is this bit of hope that you are worthy of love… and you are scared that one day you will step outside of it and will find out you were wrong all along and will lose that bit of hope that had kept you carry on for so long,"_

"_I do not have a heart Caroline…" He paused, and gazed upon her as though he longed for her to tell him otherwise, he waited hoping she would convince him that he was mistaken._

_The wait seemed so long he could hear the fizzing noise of the fire place fill up the room._

"_That is what you want to believe Niklaus… But I have seen it… I saw it at the cave… I see it now… You want to believe you are a heartless monster, because that is what your father made you out to be," She had not lost her touch, she like always knew what he wanted to hear, even if he pretended he would never believe a word of it._

_Thus he challenged her words continuing with his façade that he had become so accustomed to, the façade he was afraid to let go, "It is you that had made me a monster not anyone else Caroline. It is the lust for your blood that had made me slaughter many a men, because I could not get the taste of you out of my head…" he felt his disguise slowly dissolve and slip away the more he tried to force it upon the blonde woman beneath him, "Why can I never get enough of you Caroline?"_

"_Nik," Her hand tentatively reached up to caress the side of his face. "Because it may not simply be the lust for my blood,"_

_That was it, he didn't need to hear the rest of her answer, he knew it, and he had known what it was all along. _

_He placed a kiss on her, gathering up all the passion that he had kept cooped up inside of him for decades and she responded with equal desire._

_Her hands ran wildly in his hair and her lips danced steadily against his._

_He stopped his ministration for a moment simply to look at her one more time to make sure it was not some dream._

"_Nik?" There was a slight fright taking over her eyes, for she may have thought he was regretting what he had done, she may have thought he was regretting the choice he had not yet voiced._

"_I am sorry Caroline, for everything… " He could hear his voice crack up, but thought he did well to recover and sound stern._

_With a simple nod and a smile she accepted him, and took his lips with her own as if to further prove it._

_No proof, no testimony had ever tasted as sweet he felt. He smiled to himself as he indulged on every stroke, every move her lips made. He beamed as he thought of the way their day started off and where it seemed to be heading now. _

_His greedy hands ran down the sides of her frame and back up, with the hem of her dress tangled around his fingers. _

_She lifted her hands helping him to take the gown off of her._

_It is the first time he had seen Caroline Archer like so, fully bare, with her blonde hair spread upon the bed, with her eyes begging him to take her, and he found nothing else to be more captivating. _

_He laid delicate kisses along her jaw line listening to the low aroused moans that cooed out of her lips. "You are right Caroline, becoming a werewolf was not what I have been wanting for all these years," He murmured to her ear and watched her tremble feeling his breath against her skin._

"_I am always right, am I not?" Her playful smile caressed his ear like a little feather, tickling him._

_He replied her with a kiss so violent and forceful that he could feel her wriggle crazily beneath him impatient for more._

_He began to taunt her with his touch, fondling her supple curves; his lips subtly moving upon her smooth skin, not allowing her to have what she was pleading for straightaway._

_She was not about to be the only one that was being teased, thus she let her fingers play up on him as if he was a toy solely made for her amusement, to please her, for he could see the blue in her eyes gleam watching the way he almost surrendered to her gentle caresses._

_He could not restrain himself any more, he had always known the smell of her blood one day or the other would drive him mad, but the fragrance of her arousal he now knew could have worse consequences. He thought it may have the power to bring the death of his immortal self._

_Her hands came to drape over his neck, drawing him to her, capturing his lips with a deep kiss, her tongue not begging for entrance but demanding it. _

_With so much eagerness and desire he pecked the valley between her bosom, "Nik…" She mumbled and her back arched, her legs unfolded and locked themselves behind his back._

_The moment he heard her call his name, he let himself melt into her warm beautiful body. _

_He moved rhythmically within her and she moved in harmony with him. _

_Her nails drew wild shapes on his back and her teeth sunk into the soft spot on his neck as she began to reach her high. A roar built up in his throat, growing more than roused by the feel of her canines draining his blood. _

"_Caroline," Calling out her name he reached his high along with her._

_He rolled over, bringing her to lie on top of him with his hands selfishly wrapped around her little frame. _

_She looked at him raising her head from his chest._

_Her swollen lips he saw were stained by his blood and he ran his fore-finger on her lips to wipe the stain off. _

_As soon as he was done she licked the blood off his finger with a sinful gaze set upon him._

_What filled his body at that moment he couldn't put into words, it made him smile; looking at his Caroline Archer lying on top of him, naked, it made him smile indeed._

"_What are you smiling at Niklaus Mikaelson?" She glared._

"_I thought that was what people were supposed to do when they were happy?" He answered touching her forehead with his lips._

_Caroline grinned lively before she kissed his cheek and rested her head back upon his chest._

_He could sense her giggle happily drawing circles with her finger on his skin. He closed his eyes while his hand played with the curls of her hair, hoping the woman he held in his arms was not an illusion._

_Cuddled up in each other as so they fell asleep soon after. _

_Every day that came after that night ended with the same happy note, ended with them in his bed. _

_They were inseparable. They were happy._

_As months went by there were stories of them being told to children, some as love stories where two star crossed lovers found each other again, some darker where two beasts would destroy anything in their way to get what they wanted. However, whatever the story was he was content that it was about the two of them. _

_Their past was not forgotten, yet they were more concerned of the new memories they were making. _

_There were things he could not say to her, things he did not know how to say to her, but whenever she looked at him he believed she understood them all._

_Like every night he was in bed with her one blustery night. She was teasing him, asking him about whether he would ever promise to give up chasing the doppelganger, and like every night he dodged the question by kissing her._

_It was then he heard of the news of Mikael's arrival and his plan to kill them both, it was then he thought he had done a grave mistake by making Caroline a part of his life._

_He urged her to run away against her will, against his own will, for that was what he thought was best for her, she was safer without him, he had figured. _

_After much persuasion and complaints she jumped out of the window._

_When he looked out the window he could hear her soft "I love you" loudly and clearly. _

_He knew she was waiting down there for him to say it back. He had wanted to repeat it, he had wanted to say it for the past few months now, and now more than ever since it may be the last time he may ever get to see her. Still he feared voicing the truth he had known for so long would endanger her life more than he had now, and he knew if he died at Mikael's hands Caroline would not be able to endure it, she would not be able to ever let go, if he were to utter those words. He wanted to let her think that he did not care for her enough to say those precious words to her, thus he wanted to stay silent and never reply her. _

"_I love you," Yet the words had slipped out of him, not loudly but he had mumbled the words softly nevertheless. _

_Whether his declaration was heard or not, he had no way of knowing, for not a moment not too soon she had disappeared._

_He stood looking out the window, as if he believed if he stared long enough he would catch a glimpse of her, hear her soft laughter. _

_However, it was not her laughter his ears had caught, but it was the sound of his minions falling and crashing against the walls._

"_Trying to run away Klaus?" Mikael had come, and he was standing by the door._

"_Not exactly," He drew out a sword that had been hanging on the wall and threw it at Mikael. It hit Mikael in the side of his stomach, but didn't do as much damage as he would have hoped._

"_Not bad for a bastard…" Mikael pulled the sword out of him as if it was nothing at all, "but I came prepared…" _

_He looked out the door, and a tall, lean young woman who definitely bore an uncanny resemblance to 'Ayana' walked in._

_She started uttering a spell, and he fell to his knees holding his head, screaming at Mikael, "I hate you!"_

_Mikael marched about the room, as the witch kept repeating her spell. _

_Using the sword in his hand Mikael picked up one of Caroline's dresses that had been hanging on the edge of the bed, and after inspecting it with a crude smile he threw it to some corner, "And where is your lovely lady friend? I want you to see her die," _

"_You will not touch a hair on her!" He roared darting at Mikael despite of the witch's spell that pulled him back._

_However, the spell was too powerful for him to fight off, for he fell down right in front of Mikael's feet before he could reach his neck and strangle him to death as he deserved._

"_Oh, Is this not sweet?" Mikael pointed the sword at his neck and laughed, "You truly believe you care about her? And she cares about you? And here I thought all this news about you and Archer's daughter were lies," _

_He setting aside the pain that had numbed him looked up at Mikael, "I am going to kill you!" _

_Mikael barely flinched at his threat, moreover he snorted again, "No one will ever truly love you boy! No one!" Pressing the sword hard on to his neck, cutting his skin, Mikael bent down and whispered into his much hated son's ear, "Not even Caroline! From what I can see she had run off the minute she thought her life was in danger, she has left you Klaus!" Mikael stood up, his stance more superior than earlier, "And Tatia Petrova, She never loved you either… she was the one that came to me and said you killed the man she was betrothed to and asked me to make you marry her,"_

"_Tatia?" He had not cared who had told his secret for a long time, he had stop caring about the past the night he made the choice to be with Caroline. Yet hearing Tatia may have had a part in it made him feel relieved, it was not that he needed assurance that Caroline can be trusted, it was more so because he had found a missing piece of the puzzle that had pestered him for so long._

"_Yes it was Tatia, but we asked your dear Caroline to learn that Tatia was not simply seeking a man to marry. But I should praise the little blonde for not even saying a word against her oh so beloved friend,"_

_He could feel nothing but pride by what he heard Mikael say about Caroline; even Mikael who disapproved everything seemed to have respected Caroline for her resolute, ironically providing evidence contradicting to what he had not so long ago had said about Caroline not loving him._

_Mikael continued talking amidst the witch's chanting, staring at the dying flames inside the fireplace, "But sadly her eyes gave it all away. And it was then your mother came out with her terrible truth. Because she was afraid that her bastard son may turn into a damned cursed dog just like his real father… I had always known there was something about you that I hated, she merely confirmed it for me that night," Mikael looked down at him again, and put the sword down and pulled out a white wooden stake out of his robe, "It is because of you everything has happened Klaus, and you shall die for it!"_

_For all he knew they had burnt the white oak tree to the ground, there was nothing but ashes left of it, how Mikael had come to have what seemed a white oak stake he couldn't understand. However before he could ponder on it further Mikael suddenly dropped unconscious. _

_It seemed the witch had had a plan of her own, for her concentration, and her burning eyes were now on Mikael._

_Now that he was no longer under the witch's power, or dragged down by Mikael's harassing words, he slowly got to his feet, "Why did you do that?"_

"_He killed my mother, saying if it was not for her Esther would still be alive and he thinks it was solely my mother's idea to make you all vampires… So he killed her," The witch went over to Mikael to make sure he was not waking up anytime soon. It seemed her hatred of the man lying on the floor was not that far off of from what he felt for the man he used to think was his father._

"_So what I thought was right… you are Ayana's daughter?" He examined the familiar features on the face of the witch in front of him that reminded him of Ayana._

_She nodded, and walked over to him and stood facing him, "Be thankful that it was Caroline that saved me from your father that day when he was about to kill me… after he had killed my mother, It is because I was indebted to Caroline that I never told Mikael of the blood bond you two shared…"_

"_Blood bond?" He was puzzled, curious of this new revelation about Caroline and him._

"_I have said too much already… I cannot tell you anymore," The witch looked behind afraid of other ears that may be hiding behind the castle walls, "And I have done wrong by the spirits by helping you. The spirits wanted me to seek help from the man I loathed so much to kill the both of you. You and Caroline," She sighed, she seemed to have been trying to follow orders she didn't believe in, "But I have failed them," She looked up as if begging for mercy from whatever the gods she believed in. "Because I cannot do that to Caroline," She picked up the stake Mikael had tried to use against him and threw it into the slow burning fire, "It was a fake, I used this to get your father to trust me so that he could lead me to Caroline and you," She came closer to him, and her index fingers pressed against the either side of his forehead._

_The witch had managed to numb him somehow; suddenly he felt a frozen corpse, "What are you doing?" He uttered feeling drowsy._

"_Erasing your memory…" She stared at the castle ceiling, saying some kind of gibberish._

"_What?" He felt himself floating into somewhere distant. _

_Slowly everything turned darker._

"_I would forever be in debt for what Caroline did for me, but still I have to do what the spirits asks of me to do…" The witch answered, and he could barely hear her. "Do not worry I am only wiping your memory from today to the past year of your life,"_

"_But I will forget about Caroline," That was all he cared for, Caroline; she was all that mattered to him. He had lived for almost a half a century but the only time of his life he would want to remember forever was the ones that he spent with Caroline, and past year contained his most beloved memories of her._

"_I cannot let you two be together as so… When she is alone she is weak… If you two are together you will always protect her, and she you… The spirits wants you dead, I will not kill you because I do not want to be the cause of Caroline's death," The witch's eyes began to water as her fingers poked on his forehead even harder, "I am a witch and I need to restore the natural order. I may not want to hurt Caroline, but I should make it possible for my blood line to finish the job I have failed to do." She mumbled in an unknown language and then looked at him in the eyes and added, "One day the vampires shall be no more, you… Caroline… even your father, who the spirits for the time being want to keep alive, because he is needed to get rid of your siblings,"_

_He could hear the witch, but nothing made sense, he was too worn out by her spell to ask questions, he would open his mouth but no voice would come out, thus he simply stared, standing stoned, hoping this is just another nightmare, hoping when he woke up he would be with Caroline, sleeping soundly in her arms._

"_You do not need to worry about anything Niklaus Mikaelson, because when you wake up you will be far away from your father and you will not remember much…" The voice of the witch faded as the darkness around him swallowed him whole._

.

.

"Nik, Wake up!" Rebekah's voice rang in Klaus' head.

"Where's Caroline?" Klaus blinked rapidly, trying to clear his blurred vision, trying to figure out the meaning of all the memories that had resurfaced.

The mist in his eyes slowly began to fade away and he could see few people standing around his bed but he couldn't make out who they were.

"Nik… Are you alright?" Kol asked, and then at once Klaus remembered what Kol had done the last he saw him, how his younger brother plunged out of the window with Caroline.

For Kol's dismay Klaus fully regained his vision, and he attacked Kol the second he caught his rascal of a face and grabbed him by his throat. Klaus felt a couple of hands trying to pull him from the back, but he didn't care, "You! What did you do?"

"Hold on brother let me explain… Actually, I don't know how to explain what happened. Elijah, a little hand please!" He looked to his left, to where Elijah stood.

"Niklaus, it was Bonnie Bennet. She somehow got into Kol's head and made him, help her kidnap Caroline," Elijah explained, trying to help out Finn who was trying miserably to save Kol.

"Nik, He's telling the truth," Rebekah added.

The story didn't seem that farfetched, but if Klaus had not known the truth about witches being able to erase memories, and have such power over even Original vampires, he would have broken his brother's neck, moreover have him daggered.

Thus Klaus gave his brother the benefit of the doubt and released him, "Where is she then? Elijah, I remember you running after them," He turned to Elijah.

"I'm sorry Niklaus…" Elijah's defeated tone, made Klaus want to scream and rip the heart out of his elder brother.

"They took her." A quite shaken voice said from the opposite corner of the room.

Klaus turned around and saw Stefan who was pacing about running his fingers through his hair. The Salvatore not at all looked the calm and collected, brooding Stefan that Klaus had seen the past few weeks, he looked more like the edgy vampire he had met in the twenties, who trembled at the sight of human blood, "What's wrong with you?"

Stefan stopped to answer, his fingers twitching, "This is how I'm like when I don't know where Caroline is, or if she is safe…"

Klaus pitied the young vampire, he had not known his little spur of jealousy, this idea of keeping Caroline protected had such repercussions on the lad.

Sage walked into the room, "Oh you're finally up! you've been unconscious for two days Niklaus, and we were worried about you. Even your warlock friend Martin didn't know what to do,"

"I've been remembering something I should not have ever forgotten," Klaus thought of what he had been dreaming, how Caroline and he were together, and what became of them.

"So, are we going to just sit around here or are we actually going to do something?" Came in the doppelganger. Her attitude, the weasel like walk, her curly hair, told Klaus she was the insufferable Katherina.

"What is she doing here?" Klaus looked about those gathered in his bedroom.

"You weren't that rude to me when you danced with me at the ball," She smirked, twirling one of her long brown curly strands of hair.

"Why do I have a feeling you may have a hand in everything that is happening right now?" Klaus strangled the brunette and held her up against the wall.

"If you kill me now you will never be able to find your, 'Friend'," She coughed, glancing at Elijah seeking some sort of help from him.

Elijah stood unmoved as if he hadn't notice how Klaus had her grappled by the neck.

"We might need her Niklaus, let her go!" Sage advised, but even she seemed not all that interested in putting so much of an effort into saving Katherina, for the red head nonchalantly sat in the arm chair next to the window.

"For what? To lead us in to another trap? That's what all the Petrovas have ever done isn't it?" Klaus huffed angrily at Katherina, imagining how she would scream when he pulled her heart out.

"Niklaus, Let her go… and hear her out. She came to us this morning, She said what she has to say might help us find Caroline," Elijah finally raised his voice, much to the delight of the doppelganger who Klaus heard sigh.

Klaus didn't let her go, but released the grip a little bit and stared at her brown eyes and started to compel her, "What were you doing at the Ball?"

"It was all part of Caroline's plan." Katherina answered instantly.

"Caroline's plan? What was the plan?" Klaus' head furrowed in intrigue.

"I found out stupid Elena wanted to come to the ball and stop Bonnie from risking her life to save her, and I messaged Caroline to let her know that Bonnie was up to something," The brunette divulged and the rest of them listened in intently.

"Go on..." Klaus took his hands off of Katherina's neck.

Her hand went to her neck and began to slowly rub the point Klaus had had her strangled, so the sweltering pain would wipe away and heal sooner, "Caroline told me to come here so that I can switch places with Elena. She compelled the two jocks to kidnap Elena at the gates and hide her somewhere… Since we weren't quite sure what Bonnie was up to Caroline wanted to have something that she could use against Bonnie. And Elena's stupid move to come here provided Caroline just what she needed,"

"Where is Elena now?" Klaus growled at the brunette, whose eyes at once filled up with fear.

"I don't know where she is? Only Caroline, the two quarterbacks who are probably compelled to forget it knows where she is," Katherina stuttered.

"She should have told me what she was up to. Why didn't she tell me?" Klaus walked about the room, feeling irritated by the fact Caroline had been scheming and kept him out of the loop.

Kol rolled his eyes, "Who knows? Probably she was afraid you would go on some kind of a killing spree… murder the whole town in the process of trying to defeat Bonnie Bennet,"

Seeing that Klaus was still in no mood to listen to the babbling of his younger brother who had help kidnap Caroline, Sage who was sitting next to Kol, kicked him hard but tactfully on his leg. It elicited a somewhat loud, "Ouch!" from Kol.

Katherina thought for a second and added to Kol's list of possible reasons why Caroline had not told Klaus of her plans, "She just may have wanted to prove herself to you. I never asked her. She has saved my life a several times and when she wants me to do something I just do, I don't ask. Unless,"

"Unless?" Elijah questioned.

Katherina spun around to face Elijah, but the truth she was about to say made her bow her head down, "Unless there's a better option that will make sure Klaus will stay the hell away from me."

"And Bonnie Bennet gave you that option?" Klaus continued with his interrogation.

"Yes. She said that I can be free from you if I help her, she wanted to use Caroline as leverage… with the history you two share…"Katherina continued with a knowing smirk, "She assured me they will lure you somehow into a trap" She slowly looked at Elijah, who had his head turned away, almost as if he was utterly disappointed and disgusted by the sight of her. "Because Caroline was smart to keep her distance from Bonnie I think Bonnie saw the witch obsessed Kol as her only ticket to get Caroline."

Kol was heard scoffing loudly at Katherina's assumptions.

"So what was your part in all of this?" Finn asked walking over towards where his fuming sister stood.

"I really didn't have to do anything much, Bonnie only wanted me to keep Stefan distracted until she cast her spell on Kol, just like Caroline wanted me to keep Damon distracted while she went about her plans," Katherina apprehensively explained further to her audience of rather angry looking powerful thousand year old vampires and one ripper who looked like he might lose his nerve completely at any moment soon.

"You idiot!" Rebekah shouted, "She wanted Caroline so that she could kill Nik by killing Caroline, because of the blood bond!" If not for Finn who patted on Rebekah's hand trying to calm her down, it would have been Rebekah's hands around Katherina's neck this time around.

"No she promised me they're just going to use her to get to Klaus," For once the doppelganger seemed honestly worried, but none of the Originals seemed willing to believe her.

"Don't act so naive! I know what kind of a manipulative person you are first hand!" Stefan shouted still continuing his pacing, rubbing his hands together as if he was cold.

"No I'm not acting, I truly didn't know!" Katherina looked at all who looked back at her with nothing but complete distrust, "Why didn't Caroline ever tell me this? I wouldn't have done this if I had known… I knew there was some kind of a bond, but I never knew what it really was…" Katherina claimed, "I owe her my life. I might do lot of things to survive, but I would've never wanted to see her dead! Why didn't she tell me?"

"May be she was wise enough to keep that bit of information from you, because she may have been afraid that this day would have come much sooner if you had known about it," Elijah' jaws clenched, his face was red and eyes were dark, it was as if he hated himself for ever believing he cared for a woman such as Katherina Petrova.

"I guess I'm not what you normally call a true friend, but I would have never been a part of something that would lead to her death," Katherina's voice was low almost as if she wished that she could dissolve into the background noises.

"Right we believe you," Kol sneered sarcastically.

"Elijah?" Katherina looked for Elijah's acceptance, but Elijah seemed far off from giving her anything of the sort.

"Let's focus on getting Caroline back…" said Elijah instead and turned his back to her.

Sage put one leg over the other and her fingers tapped on the arm rest of her chair, "It seems that Caroline is still alive since Bonnie doesn't know about Elena's whereabouts… so if we find Elena and trade her…"

"But no one knows where she is!" Finn pointed out settling on Klaus' bed.

"We'll all search for her! Or ask your witch friend to do a locator spell or something?" Rebekah came to the middle, and waited for someone's approval to go out and start searching.

"Caroline may have found a way to keep Elena undetected from Bonnie, so that means Martin will be useless to us. We'll be wasting time. They could be trying to torture the answer out of Caroline as we speak! What if they succeed while we are out searching for the Gilbert girl? They will kill Caroline the moment she tells them where Elena is…" Klaus rubbed the bridge between his eyes, trying to think, "We'll take Katherina and tell them it's Elena," It was the age old trick, but he saw no other option.

Katherina shook her head, opposing the suggestion, "But the Bennet witch called me out the last time around, at the ball… She knows her friend very well. It would be difficult to fool her,"

"Then you better put on the act of your life," Klaus watched the brunette as she retreated a few steps.

"But… I… can't…" Katherina muttered.

"Katherina?" Elijah pleaded, his eyes telling her the story of how he used to believe in her, they told her how he would try to believe in her once more if she did this one thing.

"Alright, I… I will do it…" Katherina agreed, her voice bore a large dose of uncertainty that put neither Klaus nor the others in the room at ease.


	17. The Ruse

**A/N:** So sorry for once more taking such a long time to update. Thanks for not giving up on this. Only few more chapters to go so I will finish this.

Thanks to annapung, SophieSheeran, ilyreid, jessnicole and justine for the reviews, they help me a lot, makes me want to keep writing and thanks everyone that are following and have Favorited the story. Love you all... :D

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**The Ruse**

The Originals were hurriedly walking across the Lockwood property, towards the caves where the Bennet witch had asked them to meet. They were all marching forward with high hopes of successfully carrying out the treaty, which consisted of trading off a thousand year old vampire to a doppelganger. Though they didn't have the correct doppelganger with them, but only the vile and guile 'Katherina Petrova', they were optimistic that the witch would believe Elena's ancestor to be Elena herself.

"I'm not staying behind!" Sage stated for the umpteenth time.

Klaus turned back slightly, very much annoyed by the dispute that had begun from the moment they had stepped out of their mansion gates.

"But you don't have to be, I don't think it's safe," Finn was heard nagging the red head again.

"No! I want to be there… Niklaus has saved my life once and I want to repay him for it… When I thought I was all alone and those pack of werewolves were going to tear me apart, it was Niklaus that came to my rescue." Sage answered firmly and after a short pause she reasoned some more, "And Caroline… she was the one who brought the two of us together… I need to be there for both of them,"

Finn may be an Original vampire, but whenever it came to Sage, he was just another man desperately in love with a woman, thus he was very unsuccessful in making her do what he wanted. Though, in any case Sage was not someone, who would easily waiver once she had made a decision.

"I'm sure he had some other reasons behind it… I find it hard to believe that Nik would do anything without a reason," Kol had jumped into the conversation.

Klaus rolled his eyes as he strolled in front, "All of you back there, you do know that I can hear you lot right? And I hope you all know that I'm very capable of daggering each one of you the moment you got on my nerves," he threatened.

"All I know is you saved me centuries ago and I saw no other reason for you to save me other than the connection I have with your brother," Sage explained.

"So am I to believe that what I'm hearing is true?" Kol mocked as he went up to Klaus and put his arm around his shoulder, "Is my life hating dear brother, really a softy inside?"

Klaus pushed Kol's hand off, "You dare come close to me even after how you helped kidnap Caroline?"

Things couldn't have been worse, for one Caroline's life was in danger, the other they had the wrong doppelganger to trade off, and furthermore, Klaus had his whole annoying family tagging along with him for help. Not that he thought he wouldn't need any help, but seeing that two third of his brothers are not in his favourite list of people at the moment, it certainly was a stressful stroll through the woods.

"Calm down brother! What part of '_I was compelled by the Bennet witch'_ didn't you understand?" Kol argued.

Klaus slowed down and created a gap between him and Kol, making Kol walk in the forefront of the pack. "Just stay out of my sight!" Klaus meant it, not just to Kol, but especially to his older brother Elijah. Klaus then as if to make sure all parties got the message, glanced behind at Elijah, who he had spotted in the middle of their little pack of vampires, walking next to a very anxious looking Stefan Salvatore.

"So you and Stefan?" Katherina seemed to have commenced on weaving some other plan.

Klaus knew what Katherina was hinting at, and thus he turned to his sister who was walking behind him to his right.

The blonde looked somewhat nervous, for she was well aware that like every other vampire that was walking along with them, Stefan Salvatore too could hear everything very clearly.

"That's none of your business!" Rebekah barked tightening the knot that kept Katherina's hands bound behind her back, and she looked behind her shoulder to catch a glimpse of Stefan, to learn his reaction.

Klaus watched the way their eyes lingered upon each other's faces for a moment, before they both turned their focus elsewhere. The original bad could not help but feel some kind of guilt washing over him at the way his sister's head bowed and stared at the ground another second later.

However, after Rebekah's very straight forward disregard to the question that was directed at her, the brunette thankfully said no more. The doppelganger was as quiet as the two awfully young vampires, at the very end of their disgruntle pack; one of which was sired to Klaus and the other sired to Sage.

They reached their gathering point few minutes afterwards.

"Time to do what I was waiting to do for the last few minutes," With a very forbidding smile on her lips Rebekah pulled out some sort of a scarf from her jacket and began to gag Katherina.

The doppelganger stared with narrowed eyes at Rebekah as she covered her mouth with the scarf and tied it firmly behind her head.

Klaus looked about the minute army of vampires that had come for his aid, but most of them he knew were there for Caroline. Either way however much they annoyed him, at that moment as he stood in front of the caves he felt slightly overawed by the support he had received in setting his plan into motion.

"So where are they?" Kol sat on a tree stump. "I have a tiny beef to settle with Miss Bennet,"

"We're half an hour early idiot!" Rebekah shoved him off and took the tree stump to herself, throwing Katherina at Elijah. Rebekah's curved lips proved that it was no accident that Katherina ended up in Elijah's arms, her curved brows proved further that she was seeking vengeance for what Katherina had tried to pull earlier.

The usually ever so calm and collected Elijah looked very much unprepared to man handle the woman who he once wanted to love. Not so surprisingly Katherina too looked as uncomfortable in bumping into Elijah as Elijah was to catch her.

Klaus scoffed at their reunion of sorts making the two of them act like they were unaffected by the unexpected situation.

"What the hell are we doing here half an hour early?" Kol grumbled, "Actually what the hell are we doing here at all, when we could just go to the witch's house or wherever they are and bring back Caroline?" Kol rubbed his fist, and his eyes that lit up at his epiphany were sure signs that he was ready to see some enemies bleed.

"It's not as simple as it looks Kol!" Klaus sighed, for if Caroline's and his own life was not on the line, he may have done exactly what Kol had suggested, but now he feared to do anything of the sort. Especially since according to what he had heard it was seemingly a Bennet witch that had spearheaded the plan to desiccate his ever forcible father, and more especially since, he believed this Bennet witch to be as or more powerful than any of the Bennets he had encountered in the past.

Furthermore Klaus now more than ever was too well aware of the destruction a single 'Bennet witch' could cause, to just simply go and raid them, for while he had everything to lose, Bonnie Bennet though may not know it yet, had nothing to lose. True that they 'the Originals' were stronger in numbers, but they in reality had nothing solid to bargain with, while Bonnie Bennet literally had his whole life in her hands.

Moreover, the fact that the witch never told him to come alone to carry out the trading, told him that the witch wasn't afraid, and most definitely won't be alone. Though the element of surprise could have worked in their favor if they had just attacked them, Klaus knew though fighting a lioness in her own den was hard, fighting a witch on her own turf would be even harder. Thus it was why he had opted to meet them on neutral grounds.

"Everyone be on alert! Take your positions," Klaus commanded the two sired vampires and they at once disappeared into the tree tops. He had decided to keep the minions to a minimum, thinking that showing up with an army of them may ruffle the witch and would start a war before the tradeoff could even begin.

Everyone else stood in front of the cave in one horizontal line, with Rebekah once more taking possession of the tied up Katherina. "Where's your trusty warlock Nik? Did you kill him or something? Don't you think he would have been a great asset to us in a time like this?" Rebekah asked gripping Katherina's arm tightly.

"I don't trust him enough to keep him around for a battle against witches… because end of the day if he had to choose sides whatever leverage I have against him may not be enough to keep him on our side." Klaus then placed himself next to Rebekah, merely to make sure his sister wouldn't kill his fake hostage just because she questioned the state of her relationship with the younger Salvatore.

"I'm glad that we all are standing here today as one, to save a life of someone who we all care for so deeply, someone we've known for thousand years," Elijah announced skimming over the alert faces around him, but conveniently choosing to skip the brunette's, who was standing right next to him.

Klaus groaned at his brother's speech, "Save your locker room motivational speech for someone who actually cares for it Elijah!"

Kol who had been standing next to Klaus was heard smirking, "It's just like old times isn't it brother? Fighting over the same girl, yet teaming up to save her? That's a motivational story by itself. Should we chant a cheer perhaps, one for all and all for one?"

Klaus turned to Kol sharply, wanting to shut him up, and shove his hand down his throat and pull out an organ or two.

"Behave boys, let's try not to kill ourselves and make it easier for the witch," Sage grunted from the far end and all could hear a little snicker sprung out of Finn at his lover's words.

"Shhhh… I think I hear something," Rebekah whispered, her eyes signaling Katherina to be ready.

Stefan walked over and stood behind Rebekah, making her look back at him very confused. For the way he stood next to her, one would have thought he was being protective over her.

They all silently stood, listening to the sounds of footsteps as they put their mark upon the muddy floor.

"Bon-Bon you were right the whole Addams Family _is_ here," Damon walked in, with Bonnie Bennet; her eyes intense, and steps firm.

They stopped, keeping a thirty yards or so gap between their rivals.

"Damon…" Stefan garbled his brother's name, coming up to the front through the small space between Klaus and Rebekah.

It may not have been often that these brothers had found themselves on opposing teams, but knowing that Katherina Petrova had had a huge say in how the Salvatore brothers became vampires, and since they were presumably in love with the same woman, it was given that the Salvatore brothers much like the Mikaelson brothers, have had faced their share of family disputes.

"Isn't it funny Stefan? Normally it would be me standing with the wrong crowd," Damon Salvatore's dark blue eyes flickered as he stared at his younger brother.

"You two can go settle your sibling matters some other time! Just tell me where's Caroline?" Klaus focused on the witch.

"Don't worry she'll be here," Bonny Bennet growled, "But first we want to know if Elena is alright," Her eyes went to the brunette in Rebekah's possession.

Klaus looked at Katherina, the way her eyes so perfectly batted like those of the innocent teenager she should be portraying. The longer her mouth was shut he thought, higher their chances of pulling off this plan would be. "Don't worry your friend is fine, Just tell us where's Caroline!"

"No!" the witch yelled, "I want to talk to her,"

"So demanding for such a pint-sized witch?" Kol sneered with a hint of hatred towards the young brown eyed witch.

"I've got the spirits behind me! They want to see nothing but you all dead!" The witch spat back at the younger Mikaelson. "And you Kol, you should know better than anyone else in the room about how powerful I really am."

Kol's jaws tightened, his rage ignited eyes stared at the young Bennet girl as if he had the power to burn her.

"Kol, remember why we are here," Elijah said, hoping his words would help Kol keep his poise.

"Enough!" Klaus roared, "You may be powerful, you may have the spirits behind you, but you can't take all of us down and certainly not with just this fool's help." Klaus looked at the dark haired Salvatore, who had a very protesting look about his face, "So if you want to talk with Elena, I suggest you bring Caroline here first!"

The witch stared back pondering for a second.

"Witchy so what do you suggest we do?" Damon asked his eyes travelling to the brunette, who he presumed to be 'Elena'.

The witch took her phone out, "Aja, bring her here," She then shoved her phone back into her jacket.

In a couple of minutes, they heard few more people approaching them.

"You're wrong Klaus I am powerful enough to kill each and every one of you," The way Bonnie Bennet's eyes danced, it was hard to read whether she was bluffing or whether she was telling the truth, "But I brought some of my friends along, because they wanted in on the fun," The witch smiled and shifted her eyes to the sound of footsteps that came behind her.

Four women, possibly witches, with stares as strong as the Bennet witch herself came out under from the shadowy oak trees that spanned throughout the Lockwood property, and yet Caroline was nowhere in sight.

"Where is she?" Klaus demanded an answer. He didn't care how powerful the witch's friends were, or how many were there, he was prepared to kill them all if they didn't bring Caroline.

"Patience is a virtue," Damon mocked with his brows arched, and then he looked to his left.

Then right at that moment Jeremy Gilbert showed up with a very frail looking Caroline in his hands.

"Caroline?" Klaus called out inaudibly. His cold blood began to boil thinking about what they may have done to her, or how they may have tortured her to make her as weak as to be carried in by a mere human, a teenager at that.

She was too weak to even open her eyes and stand up without the help of the puny human.

"So now that you know she's alive, let us first talk to Elena," Damon's brows curled in anticipation as he looked across the distance between the two parties to look at the brunette who was struggling in the hands of the Original blonde.

"Take it off!" Klaus ordered his sister, puffing out a frustrated sigh.

Rebekah took off the piece of clothing that covered the doppelganger's mouth.

"Da… Damon, Jere…." Katherina said in a shaky voice, "Jere, get out of here… Damon, tell him he shouldn't be here!" Katherina did exceptionally well, as expected. Yet whether it was enough to fool her friends Klaus couldn't tell.

"I want to come closer and talk to her," said Jeremy.

All turned to Klaus, to hear his response.

"No!" Klaus rejected it without a second thought, "I wouldn't want you to try something stupid and get yourself killed,"

"Exactly Klausy, If he did anything stupid we all know you will kill him, So let the boy talk to his sister, so that we know you're not playing any tricks on us," Damon took Caroline into his possession, so that Jeremy could go to his sister.

"No!" Klaus still wasn't convinced.

Elijah walked over, "Klaus, let him come we don't have anything to hide do we?" the way Elijah's eyes blinked asked Klaus to trust him, told him if they didn't allow this, the witch would start to suspect them. Moreover the way Elijah's hand rested on his shoulder told him, whatever problems there may be between them, they were still brothers and he could rely on his family if bad came to worse, so for that reason and that reason only Klaus convinced himself that this was the best course of action to proceed with.

"Very well then," Klaus with his eyes signaled the young Gilbert to come forward. "But on one condition, the moment he says she's not his sister… I'm going to break her neck into two. So if you're willing to take that risk be my guest," Klaus smiled confidently.

Just as Jeremy was about to take a stride forward, Damon bellowed "Not so fast!" The older Salvatore dug in to his pant pocket and pulled out what looked like a some kind of a syringe, "Just in case you try to do something silly and kill young Jeremy over here, just remember I would be pointing this needle that will in a second inject werewolf venom into your sweet Caroline's blood system," Damon smiled watching the way the Originals turned pale and somewhat writhe in anger at his words. "Apparently Tyler's uncle who I killed yesterday… wasn't really human," He was showing off the needle, with his wily eyes gleaming as he stared at its sharp point. "And thanks to him, now I have this nifty little weapon that I can use against you idiots."

"You wouldn't dare…" Klaus glared at the boldness of the young vampire.

"Then you don't know me very well, Klausy," Damon countered.

"Jeremy…" Bonnie gestured Jeremy to move forward. The witch may have had many tricks, and spells up her sleeve to learn whether the doppelganger was Elena or not, but using Jeremy seemed to be the preferred method as it would be the one less likely to start a some kind of a warfare.

Jeremy took a step and stopped, twirling the large ring on his left hand, rightfully looking more than a little terrified by the faces of the vampires that were staring at him.

"No! Jeremy it's too dangerous stay where you are!" Katherina carried on with her award worthy performance, acting as if she was a feeble human struggling to break herself lose from Rebekah's grip.

"Damon! Bonnie! Caroline used to be your friend, how could you two even think to kill her like this!" Stefan's cries echoed through the woods, his unbalanced state worsening every second that passed by.

"That's where you and I are different little brother, I would do anything for the woman I care about, even if it means she will hate me for it," Damon's glare fell to the doppelganger, "Unlike you, who are willing to just stand there with the same guy who wants to kill her… so he can break some stupid curse and become some messed up wolf,"

Stefan looked befuddled, as if he was questioning himself, his moral compass, and how much of it was due to Klaus' compulsion, and how much of it was due to what he felt or not felt for Elena.

Annoyed by Damon's blatant disregard to using correct terms Klaus thundered, "For your information, it's called a hybrid,"

"Whatever dude," Damon muttered.

"Jeremy, go!" Bonnie instructed the tentative Jeremy once more. After giving her a slight nod, the young Gilbert boy slowly stepped towards the Mikaelson clang.

Silence took over the woods as everyone else waited for Jeremy Gilbert to come and confirm the identity of the doppelganger.

Jeremy was only half way down and Klaus abruptly shouted, "Stop! I think that's close enough!"

Jeremy turned and looked back at Bonnie, who bobbed her head to tell him that he should listen to Klaus.

Jeremy looked at the brunette who was supposedly his sister. His eyes all could see go to her hand, in search of a daylight ring or a bracelet.

Luckily enough since they had decided to meet up in the middle of the night, Katherina was able to leave her daylight bracelet at the mansion.

"Elena?" He mumbled his nervous hands fisted together. "Elena, are you alright?"

"I'm… I'm fine… but… but you shouldn't be here," Katherina excelled further in her acting as she made fake tears roll down from her eyes.

"Hope you're satisfied, because I don't have any more patience to watch this brother and sister drama," Klaus complained.

Jeremy's nervous hands dove into the pockets of his jacket as he turned his back to the Originals, as if to indicate he was content that she was his sister.

"Well then, shall we get back to business? Since Jeremy Gilbert here has given his stamp of approval," Klaus paced a few steps forward, his hands behind his back.

"I haven't approved anything," Suddenly Jeremy halted and turned around and fired something fast at the doppelganger, "Not yet!" he added.

Time started to slow, as Klaus' vampire instinct took over, as he realized that the Gilbert boy had squirted some kind of a liquid at the doppelganger.

He ran forward with his hand stretched watching the blob of water like substance fly in the direction of the doppelganger.

Klaus had thought he was fast enough to cover Katherina when he had jumped at it and felt his hand burn, for as he had guessed it had been vervein.

Yet when he heard the little yelp behind him, he knew he had failed to keep Katherina's cover from being blown.

When he looked back, he saw Katherina's burning skin heal. She may have not gotten more than a wayward drop of vervein on her face, but a drop was all that was needed for the witch and her gang to realize she was not Elena and in fact Katherina.

He cursed himself inwardly for not seeing that coming, he secretly blamed Elijah for convincing him to let Jeremy Gilbert come closer to them, he blamed Caroline for looking so frail and helpless as for it, he felt had made him lose his mind completely.

"You must have thought you're so smart Klausy haven't you?" The needle that Damon had kept on Caroline's neck looked as if it was almost about to run through her skin.

Klaus' eyes fell on the thin needle that was lurking on Caroline's pale skin for a second, and the anger, the helplessness he felt took over. He didn't know how, but a second later he was standing over the body of Jeremy Gilbert. The way his fingers tingled told Klaus that he had just broken the young boy's neck.

Damon however much he had boasted about he being able to kill Caroline without any misgivings, still hadn't injected the venom. May be it was luck or may be inside Damon's 'I don't give a damn' persona, there was someone that did give a damn. Either way for the moment being Caroline was still alive; in spite the Gilbert boy being stone cold dead.

"You think you're smart? But we are smarter…" Klaus stated, he was not thinking all that clearly, but all he knew was he had to someway take Caroline back, take her before that needle pierced her skin. "Attack!" Klaus screamed. The moment he gave out the command he realized it was a foolish one, that he was being reckless. For the way he saw it, Caroline being in Damon's custody with a syringe filled with werewolf venom pointed on her neck, the witch had the upper hand. In truth the witch had always had the upper hand, purely due to the fact while they the Originals had been partly bluffing about the cards in their hands the witch had not been.

Klaus had never gone to battle so recklessly, but there was nothing that can be done about it, he couldn't take the orders back. The battle had begun.

He saw the two sired vampires jump down. He heard the footsteps of his family, Stefan and Sage come running towards the witch, while one set of footsteps who he was in no doubt was Katherina's disappeared somewhere far off into the woods, once more adhering to her true character.

The witch's friends casted their spells, bringing the sired vampires and Stefan and Sage to their knees, while the great Bennet witch herself began to cast an even more powerful spell on the Original Family. She was strong, but wasn't strong enough to bring them down completely, for they were slowly but surely able to march forward towards her, fighting through it all.

Klaus was the first to reach Bonnie Bennet, "Meet your end witch!" He grappled her by her throat. The Bennet witch's chanting stopped and his siblings were at once released of her power.

While Kol went on to tackle the two witches that had the sired vampires under their spell, Rebekah ran off to Stefan's aid, and Finn to Sage. Elijah was circling Damon, looking for an opening to steel Caroline from Damon's hand without getting her hurt.

"Tell your brother to let Bonnie go or your friend will meet her end," Panic struck Damon shouted as he walked back to evade Elijah.

Damon somehow lost his footing and his hand slipped. The venom filled needle accidently puncturing Caroline's skin before anyone could react.

"No!" Klaus dropped the witch, "What did you do?" He snarled at Damon.

Elijah pushed Damon aside and the syringe in his hand flew to the middle of the battle field.

Klaus ran towards them his mind set on pulling out Damon's heart, yet before he or his brother could lay their hands on him someone shot Damon with a bullet from behind. The Salvatore dropped to the ground holding his shoulder.

Klaus looked around in surprise and saw a silhouette of a tall man with a gun pointed at Damon.

"Sorry to do that to you buddy," The man that had shot Damon came forward and revealed himself.

Daman who was wriggling on the wet grassy ground shouted in pain, "Ric? What the hell? "

"Look for the syringe before they use it on another one of us!" Klaus commanded Elijah and went to Caroline hearing her low murmurs among the very high pitch screams of the witches. It sounded as though they were being be headed by someone, the ruthlessness of the sound told Klaus it had to be Kol, for as much as he loved witches he almost as much enjoyed killing them, especially when he felt some sort of vengeance was in order.

"I thought you were on my side!" Damon yelled, only to get another bullet on his other shoulder.

Klaus dropped to his knees and scooped Caroline's head and held her close to his chest. "Caroline? Everything is going to be alright. Just open your eyes,"

"Of course I'm on your side," Alaric claimed, putting his gun in his pocket and drawing out a cross bow from his back.

"I thought you wanted me to get the girl?" Damon watched as Alaric pointed the arrow at him.

"Not like this… you'll never get her like this, If you hurt Caroline she'll never forgive you. That's why I'm here… that's why Elena wanted me to come here to make sure you wouldn't do anything stupid," Alaric drew the arrow away from Damon, as if to show his intention was never to harm him but only to protect Damon from himself.

"Little late for that don't you think," Damon alluded to the great peril he had put Caroline in.

"Caroline, Are you alright love? Caroline!" Klaus called her for the billionth time.

"Nik?" Finally she mumbled, her eyes slowly peeling open.

Alaric turned to Caroline hearing her voice, "You should've told someone… that Elena was with me,"

"What?" Bonnie had gotten up to her feet, yet her voice was still shaken by Klaus's grip, which had left a very bad bruise on her neck.

"I... I couldn't risk it," Caroline answered, her stare not leaving Klaus.

"You're going to be Ok sweet heart," Klaus brushed away her hair off her cold forehead.

"No… I'm dying and… that means, you will…" She couldn't finish her words, she choked and tears built in her eyes.

"shhh rest now, we'll talk later," He whispered to her, his hand lightly caressing her cheek.

"You were in on this all along? I should've known that something was up, when you said you're going on a road trip to clear your head," Damon said dragging out one of the silver bullets out of his shoulder.

"She wanted to protect herself… she wanted me to take Elena somewhere, where Bonnie couldn't detect her," Alaric walked towards Damon and lent his hand for him to get up. Damon stood up on his own, tossing Alaric's hand to the side.

"So if that's the way you want it…." Alaric pointed the arrow back at his friend.

"Where's she now?" Bonnie demanded, her eyes black and face red with anger. Her head turned to the last of her witch friends as they shrieked trying to fight off the very powerful vampires.

"Safe," Alaric answered simply but very sternly.

It was as if Bonnie had been possessed by something evil, for she began to chant even more loudly, with more spite in her tone, as if she wanted vengeance for Alaric's betrayal.

Klaus' sired minion was the first to perish at her power. He burnt and vanished into dust in a matter of seconds. Then Bonnie turned to Sage and held her arm up as if she was gripping her by the neck. Then Sage who was standing afar began to levitate.

"Agh!" Sage screamed as Bonnie turned her fingers as though she was about to pull out her heart.

"Stop this now! Let her go!" Finn rushed to Bonnie and pushed her down. The moment Bonnie tumbled to the ground, so did Sage.

Finn was about to pull Bonnie up again to give what she was due, but he suddenly yelled and fell to the floor.

When Klaus looked up at the sound he had heard, he saw his brother's body burn with a stake on his back and saw Jeremy standing over him. Jeremy who Klaus had thought he had just killed. "You all are going to pay for this!" Klaus' world was crumbling down, his brother was dead, and his Caroline was dying and he felt utterly helpless. He laid Caroline gently on the ground and stood up.

"While you were up at your mansion trying to think of ways to kidnap Elena and how to break your sun and moon curse or whatever… this is what we've been up to… we've been trying to find ways to kill you and we found this white oak stake," Jeremy proudly stated, his eyes staring at Finn's body.

Klaus stood watching the young human, contemplating how he should meet his end, how he should torture the young boy for what he had done.

"It was part of our contingency plan," Damon added.

"Why didn't you tell me this?" Alaric asked.

"From what I see now I think not telling you about it was the best decision I've ever taken," Damon finally with one last cry drew out the other pesky bullet out of his flesh.

"You talk too much," That was all the reason Klaus gave Damon before he broke his neck and threw him to the ground.

"Hey?" Alaric shouted his bow and arrow now pointed at Klaus' heart.

Klaus only gave him a stare that reminded the vampire hunter that a little bow and an arrow could do nothing to hurt him.

"Ric, No…" A very soft, barely audible warning came from Caroline who was still frailly lying on the ground.

Alaric lowered his bow and took a step back.

Klaus let go of the idea of killing the vampire hunter and once more began to reach Bonnie Bennet, the cause of the whole debacle. Yet this time around she had been smart to build up some form a force field around herself so that no one could get any more than a few feet close to her.

"No!" Sage came and fell on the ground before Finn's enflamed body. "No!" She cried her hands on her chest as if she was trying to fight the deep pain that burnt her insides.

Rebekah was still fighting the last of the Bonnie Bennet's witch friends that was so desperately trying to kill Stefan. Bonnie kept casting her spells, aiding the other to stay alive, while she kept a watchful eye on Jeremy.

Elijah who seemed to have found Damon's lost weapon at last, too had gone to his sister's aid.

While Klaus kept trying to break through the force field, for his sole aim was to kill Bonnie Bennet.

"You're going to die for that," Kol who had just executed one more witch, came and punched Jeremy on the face.

Jeremy flew off few meters into air and dropped.

"That was for the little scheming you and your pretty witch did at the ball," Kol noticing the very odd looking ring on Jeremy's hand, stopped talking. Then he pulled Jeremy back to his feet and drew the awfully gaudy ring off of his finger.

"Gilbert family ring? Is this, what kept you alive?" Kol examined the ring, "Say goodbye to it Gilbert," Kol threw it somewhere far. "And this… this is for what you did to Finn," Kol stretched his hand and got ready to yank out Jeremy's fast beating heart.

"Stop!" Bonnie Bennet lost control of her powers as she tried to stop Kol. Her force field disappeared, giving Klaus the chance he needed to kill Bonnie Bennet and giving Rebekah her chance to kill the very last witch friend who was barely hanging on to her life.

"Get ready to meet your ancestor's sweetheart," Klaus smiled wickedly as he approached the witch.

The witch began to cast what sounded like a desiccation spell.

"Stop!" Alaric bellowed.

"Sage!" Rebekah screamed in terror.

Klaus paused and looked back. He stood stunned watching Sage's body decay and turn to dust for no apparent reason.

"What's going on?" Kol let go of Jeremy and watched the scene in bewilderment as everyone else.

"Were they bonded by blood too?" Jeremy was heard asking.

"May be," Bonnie Bennet answered.

However, the moment Sage's sired vampire turned grey and died in front of their eyes, soon after Sage's death they all stood stomped by it all. Battles forgotten.

"It seems when an Original dies… their whole bloodline is going to end as well," Klaus answered everyone's quizzical faces.

* * *

**A/N: Here's something important: in this world Klaus is the cure for a werewolf bite but he has to turn into a hybrid in order for it to work, because his werewolf side is otherwise hidden. And no one knows about it yet, that's why Klaus is worried about Caroline dying.**

**So also in this story I have assumed that no one had known about the 'whole blood line of the original dying if an original dying' thing.** There may be some problems in the plot, if any of you find something please let me know I will try my hardest to fix them. It's really hard to keep track on their powers and what vampires and witches can do and can't sometimes ...

I know this chapter didn't have much Klaroline, but next one will, and it will be in Caroline's perspective, because I think we haven't really seen what's going on in her head, especially because what has happened to her in the course of the battle, i think it would be good to see everything from Caroline's eyes for once.

Let me know what you thought!


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